BANCROFT    LIBRAFY 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  OF  ALL  RACES 


VOLUME  XI 
LATIN-AMERICAN 


VOLUME  I.    Greek  and  Roman 

WILLIAM  SHERWOOD  Fox,  Ph.D.,  Princeton  University. 

VOLUME  II.     Teutonic 
AXEL  OLRTX,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Copenhagen. 

VOLUME  III.    Celtic,  Slavic 

CANON  JOHN  A.  MACCULLOCH,  D.D.,  Bridge  of  Allan,  Scotland. 
JAN  MACHAL,  Ph.D.,  Bohemian  University,  Prague. 

VOLUME  IV.    Finno-Ugric,  Siberian 
UNO  HOLMBERG,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Finland,  Helsingfors. 

VOLUME  V.     Semitic 
R.  CAMPBELL  THOMPSON,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.G.S.,  Oxford. 

VOLUME  VT.    Indian,  Iranian 
A.  BERRIEDALE  KEITH,  D.C.L.,  Edinburgh  University. 
ALBERT  J.  CARNOY,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Louvain. 

VOLUME  VII.    Armenian,  African 

MARDIROS  ANANIKIAN,  B.D.,  Kennedy  School  of  Missions,  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut. 

ALICE  WERNER,  L.L.A.  (St.  Andrews);  School  of  Oriental  Studies, 
London. 

VOLUME  VIII.    Chinese,  Japanese 

U.  HATTORI,  Litt.D.,  University  of  Tokyo. 
(Japanese  Exchange  Professor  at  Harvard  University,  1915-1016) 

MASAHURU  ANESAKI,  Litt.D.,  University  of  Tokyo. 
(Japanese  Exchange  Professor  at  Harvard  University,  1913-1915) 

VOLUME  IX.     Oceanic 
ROLAND  BURRAGE  DECON,  Ph.D.,  Harvard  University. 

VOLUME  X.    American  (North  of  Mexico) 
HARTLEY  BURR  ALEXANDER,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Nebraska. 

VOLUME  XI.    American  (Latin) 
HARTLEY  BURR  ALEXANDER,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Nebraska. 

VOLUME  XII.    Egyptian,  Indo-Chinese 
W.  MAX  MTJLLER,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
SIR   JAMES    GEORGE  SCOTT,  K.C.I.E.,  London.  , 

VOLUME  XHI.    Index 


PLATE   I 

Top  face  of  the  monolith  known  as  the  "  Dragon  " 
or  the  "  Great  Turtle  "  of  Quirigua.  This  is  one  of 
the  group  of  stelae  and  "  altars  "  which  mark  the 
ceremonial  courts  of  this  vanished  Maya  city  (see 
Plate  XXIII);  and  is  perhaps  the  master-work 
not  only  of  Mayan,  but  of  aboriginal  American  art. 
The  top  of  the  stone  here  figured  shows  a  highly 
conventionalized  daemon  or  dragon  mask,  sur- 
rounded by  a  complication  of  ornament.  The 
north  and  south  (here  lower  and  upper)  faces  of  the 
monument  contain  representations  of  divinities;  on 
the  south  face  is  a  mask  of  the  "  god  with  the  orna- 
mented nose  "  (possibly  Ahpuch,  the  death  god), 
and  on  the  north,  seated  within  the  open  mouth 
of  the  Dragon,  the  teeth  of  whose  upper  jaw  appear 
the  top  face  of  the  monument,  is  carved  a  serene, 
Buddha-like  divinity  shown  in  Plate  XXV.  The 
Maya  date  corresponding,  probably,  to  525  A.  D. 
appears  in  a  glyphic  inscription  on  the  shoulder  of 
the  Dragon.  The  monument  is  fully  described  by 
W.  H.  Holmes,  Art  and  Archaeology,  Vol.  IV,  No.  6. 


THE  MYTHOLOGY 
OF  ALL  RACES 

IN  THIRTEEN  VOLUMES 
LOUIS   HERBERT    GRAY,  A.M.,  PH.D.,  EDITOR 

GEORGE   FOOT   MOORE,  A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  CONSULTING  EDITOR 

LATIN-AMERICAN 

BY 

HARTLEY  BURR  ALEXANDER,  PH.D. 

PROFESSOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY 
UNIVERSITY   OF  NEBRASKA 

VOLUME    XI 


BOSTON 

MARSHALL  JONES   COMPANY 
M  DCCCC  XX 


COPYRIGHT,  1920 
BY  MARSHALL  JONES  COMPANY 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


All  rights  reserved 
First  printing,  April,  1920 


PRINTED    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES    OF   AMERICA    BY   THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 
CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS 

BOUND    BY   THE    BOSTON    BOOKBINDING    COMPANY 


^  -T-  7  < 

,roft  LI 


E 


E  R  /:  P  V 


TO 

ALICE   CUNNINGHAM  FLETCHER 

IN    APPRECIATION    OF    HER    INTERPRETATIONS    OF 
AMERICAN    INDIAN    LIFE    AND    LORE 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

IN  aim  and  plan  the  present  volume  is  made  to  accord  as 
nearly  as  may  be  with  the  earlier-written  volume  on  the 
mythology  of  the  North  American  Indians.  Owing  to  diver- 
gence of  the  materials,  some  deviations  of  method  have  been 
necessary,  but  in  their  main  lines  the  two  books  correspond 
in  form  as  they  are  continuous  in  matter.  In  each  case  the 
author  has  aimed  primarily  at  a  descriptive  treatment,  follow- 
ing regional  divisions,  and  directed  to  essential  conceptions 
rather  than  to  exhaustive  classification;  and  in  each  case  it 
has  been,  not  the  specialist  in  the  field,  but  the  scholar  with  kin- 
dred interests  and  the  reader  of  broadly  humane  tastes  whom 
the  author  has  had  before  him. 

The  difficulties  besetting  the  composition  of  both  books  have 
been  analogous,  growing  chiefly  from  the  vast  diversities  of  the 
sources  of  material;  but  these  difficulties  are  decidedly  greater 
for  the  Latin-American  field.  The  matter  of  spelling  is  one  of 
the  more  immediate.  In  general,  the  author  has  endeavoured 
to  adhere  to  such  of  the  rules  given  in  Note  I  of  Mythology  of 
All  Races,  Vol.  X  (pp.  267-68),  as  may  be  applicable,  seeking 
the  simplest  plausible  English  forms  and  continuing  literary 
usage  wherever  it  is  well  established,  both  for  native  and  for 
Spanish  names  (as  Montezuma,  Cortez).  Consistency  is  prag- 
matically impossible  in  such  a  matter;  but  it  is  hoped  that  the 
foundational  need,  that  of  identification,  is  not  evaded. 

The  problem  of  an  appropriate  bibliography  has  proven  to 
be  of  the  hardest.  To  the  best  of  the  author's  belief,  there 
exists,  aside  from  that  here  given,  no  bibliography  aiming  at  a 
systematic  classification  of  the  sources  and  discussions  of  the 
mythology  of  the  Latin-American  Indians,  as  a  whole.  There 


viii  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

are,  indeed,  a  considerable  number  of  special  bibliographies, 
regional  in  character,  for  which  every  student  must  be  grate- 
ful; and  it  is  hoped  that  not  many  of  the  more  important  of 
these  have  failed  of  inclusion  in  the  bibliographical  division 
devoted  to  "Guides";  but  for  the  whole  field,  the  appended 
bibliography  is  pioneer  work,  and  subject  to  the  weaknesses 
of  all  such  attempts.  The  principles  of  inclusion  are:  (i)  All 
works  upon  which  the  text  of  the  volume  directly  rests.  These 
will  be  found  cited  in  the  Notes,  where  are  also  a  few  references 
to  works  cited  for  points  of  an  adventitious  character,  and 
therefore  not  included  in  the  general  bibliography.  (2)  A 
more  liberal  inclusion  of  English  and  Spanish  than  of  works  in 
other  languages,  the  one  for  accessibility,  the  other  for  source 
importance.  (3)  An  effort  to  select  only  such  works  as  have 
material  directly  pertinent  to  the  mythology,  not  such  as  deal 
with  the  general  culture,  of  the  peoples  under  consideration,  — 
a  line  most  difficult  to  draw.  In  respect  to  bibliography,  it 
should  be  further  stated  that  it  is  the  intent  to  enter  the  names 
of  Spanish  authors  in  the  forms  approved  by  the  rules  of  the 
Real  Academia,  while  it  has  not  seemed  important  to  follow 
other  than  the  English  custom  in  either  text  or  notes.  It  is 
certainly  the  author's  hope  that  the  labour  devoted  to  the 
assembling  of  the  bibliography  will  prove  helpful  to  students 
generally,  and  it  is  his  belief  that  those  wishing  an  introduction 
to  the  more  important  sources  for  the  various  regions  will  find 
of  immediate  help  the  select  bibliographies  given  in  the  Notes, 
for  each  region  and  chapter. 

The  illustrations  should  speak  for  themselves.  Care  has  been 
taken  to  reproduce  works  which  are  characteristic  of  the  art 
as  well  as  of  the  mythic  conceptions  of  the  several  peoples; 
and  since,  in  the  more  civilized  localities,  architecture  also  is 
significantly  associated  with  mythic  elements,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  pictures  are  of  architectural  subjects. 

It  remains  to  express  the  numerous  forms  of  indebtedness 
which  pertain  to  a  work  of  the  present  character.  Where  they 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE  ix 

are  a  matter  of  authority,  it  is  believed  that  the  references  to 
the  Notes  will  be  found  fully  to  cover  them;  and  where  illus- 
trations are  the  subject,  the  derivation  is  indicated  on  the 
tissues.  In  the  way  of  courtesies  extended,  the  author  owes 
recognition  to  staff-members  of  the  libraries  of  Harvard 
and  Northwestern  Universities,  to  the  Peabody  Museum, 
the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  and  the  Museum  of  the  University  of 
Nebraska.  His  personal  obligations  are  due  to  Professor 
Frank  S.  Philbrick,  of  the  Northwestern  University  Law 
School,  and  to  the  Assistant  Curator  of  the  Academy  of 
Pacific  Coast  History,  Dr.  Herbert  I.  Priestley,  for  valuable 
suggestions  anent  the  bibliography,  and  to  Dr.  Hiram  Bing- 
ham,  of  the  Yale  Peruvian  Expedition,  for  his  courtesy  in 
furnishing  for  reproduction  the  photographs  represented  by 
Plates  XXX  and  XXXVIII.  His  obligations  to  the  editor 
of  the  series  are,  it  is  trusted,  understood. 

The  manuscript  of  the  present  volume  was  prepared  for  the 
printer  by  November  of  1916.  The  ensuing  outbreak  of  war 
delayed  publication  until  the  present  hour.  In  the  intervening 
period  a  number  of  works  of  some  importance  appeared,  and 
the  author  has  endeavoured  to  incorporate  as  much  as  was 
essential  of  this  later  criticism  into  the  body  of  his  work,  a 
matter  difficult  to  make  sure.  The  war  also  has  been  respon- 
sible for  the  editor's  absence  in  Europe  during  the  period  in 
which  the  book  has  been  put  through  the  press,  and  the  duty 
of  oversight  has  fallen  upon  the  author  who  is,  therefore, 
responsible  for  such  editorial  delinquencies  as  may  be  found. 


HARTLEY  BURR  ALEXANDER. 


LINCOLN,  NEBRASKA, 
November  17,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

AUTHOR'S  PREFACE vii 

INTRODUCTION I 

CHAPTER  I.   THE  ANTILLES 15 

I   The  Islanders 15 

V  II   The  First  Encounters 18 

III  Zemiism 21 

IV  Taino  Myths 28 

V  The  Areitos 32 

VI    Carib  Lore 36 

CHAPTER  II.   MEXICO 41 

I   Middle  America 41 

II    Conquistadores 44 

III  The  Aztec  Pantheon 49 

IV  The  Great  Gods 57 

1  Huitzilopochtli 58 

2  Tezcajjfcoca 61 

3  Quetzalcoatl 66 

4  Tlaloc  and  Chalchiuhtlicue 71 

V  The  Powers  of  Life 74 

VI   The  Powers  of  Death 79 

CHAPTER  III.   MEXICO  (continued) 85 

I    Cosmogony 85 

II   The  Four  Suns 91 

III  The  Calendar  and  its  Cycles 96 

IV  Legendary  History 105 

V   Aztec  Migration-Myths in 

VI   Surviving  Paganism 118 

CHAPTER  IV.   YUCATAN 124 

I   The  Maya 124 

II   Votan,  Zamna,  and  Kukulcan 131 

III   Yucatec  Deities 136 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

IV  Rites  and  Symbols 142 

V  The  Maya  Cycles 146 

VI   The  Creation 152 

CHAPTER  V.    CENTRAL  AMERICA 156 

I    Quiche  and  Cakchiquel 156 

II   The  Popul  Vuh 159 

III  The  Hero  Brothers 168 

IV  The  Annals  of  the  Cakchiquel 177 

V   Honduras  and  Nicaragua 183 

CHAPTER  VI.   THE  ANDEAN  NORTH 187 

I   The  Cultured  Peoples  of  the  Andes 187 

II   The  Isthmians 189 

III  El  Dorado 194 

IV  Myths  of  the  Chibcha 198 

V  The  Men  from  the  Sea 204 

CHAPTER  VII.   THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH 210 

I   The  Empire  of  the  Incas 210 

II   The  Yunca  Pantheons 220 

III  The  Myths  of  the  Chincha 227 

IV  Viracocha  and  Tonapa 232 

V   The  Children  of  the  Sun 242 

VI   Legends  of  the  Incas 248 

CHAPTER  VIII.    THE  TROPICAL  FORESTS:  THE  ORINOCO  AND 

GUIANA 253 

I    Lands  and  Peoples 253 

II    Spirits  and  Shamans 256 

III  How  Evils  Befell  Mankind 261 

IV  Creation  and  Cataclysm 266 

V   Nature  and  Human  Nature 275 

CHAPTER  IX.    THE  TROPICAL    FORESTS:   THE   AMAZON  AND 

BRAZIL 281 

I   The  Amazons 281 

II    Food-Makers  and  Dance-Masks 287 

III  Gods,  Ghosts,  and  Bogeys 295 

IV  Imps,  Were-Beasts,  and  Cannibals 300 

V   Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars 3°4 

VI    Fire,  Flood,  and  Transformations 311 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  X.  THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE 316 

I   The  Far  South 316 

II   El  Chaco  and  the  Pampeans 318 

III  The  Araucanians 324 

IV  The  Patagonians 331 

V  The  Fuegians -....,....  338 

NOTES 345 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 379 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FULL  PAGE   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE                                                                                                                                            FACING  PAGE 

I   The  Dragon  of  Quirigua  —  Photogravure    .  Frontispiece 

II   Antillean  Triangular  Stone  Images 24 

III  Antillean  Stone  Ring 28 

IV  Dance  in  Honor  of  the  Earth  Goddess,  Haiti  ...  34 
V  Aztec  Goddess,  probably  Coatlicue 46 

VI   Tutelaries  of  the  Quarters,  Codex  Ferjervary-Mayer 

—  Coloured 56 

VII    Coyolxauhqui,  Xochipilli,  and  Xiuhcoatl .....  60 

VIII   Tezcatlipoca,  Codex  Borgia  —  Coloured 64 

IX  Quetzalcoatl,  Macuilxochitl,  Huitzilopochtli,  Codex 

Borgia  —  Coloured 70 

X  Mask  of  Xipe  Totec 76 

XI   Mictlantecutli,  God  of  Death 80 

XII   Heavenly  Bodies,  Codex  Vaticanus  B  and  Codex 

Borgia  —  Coloured 88 

XIII  Ends  of  Suns,  or  Ages  of  the  World,  Codex  Vatica- 

nus A  —  Coloured 94 

XIV  Aztec  Calendar  Stone 100 

XV  Temple  of  Xochicalco 106 

XVI   Section  of  the  Tezcucan  "Map  Tlotzin "  —  Col- 
oured     112 

XVII   Interior  of  Chamber,  Mitla 118 

XVIII   Temple  3,  Ruins  of  Tikal 126 

XIX  Map  of  Yucatan  Showing  Location  of  Maya  Cities  130 

XX   Bas-relief  Tablets,  Palenque 136 

XXI    Bas-relief    Lintel,    Menche,    Showing    Priest    and 

Penitent .    .  144 

XXII   "Serpent  Numbers,"  Codex  Dresdensis — Coloured  152 

XXIII   Ceremonial  Precinct,  Quirigua 160 


XVI 

PLATE                                                                                                                                                           FACING  PAGE 

XXIV  Image  in  Mouth  of  the  Dragon  of  Quirigua     ...  168 

XXV  Stela  12,  Piedras  Negras 178 

XXVI  Amulet  in  the  Form  of  a  Vampire 190 

XXVII  Colombian  Goldwork 196 

XXVIII  Mother  Goddess  and  Ceremonial  Dish,  Colombia  .  200 

XXIX  Vase  Painting  of  Balsa,  Truxillo 206 

XXX  Machu  Picchu 212 

XXXI  Monolith,  Chavin  de  Huantar 218 

XXXII  Nasca  Vase,  Showing  Multi-Headed  Deity  ....  222 

XXXIII  Nasca  Deity,  in  Embroidery  —  Coloured     ....  226 

XXXIV  Nasca  Vase,  Showing  Sky  Deity 230 

XXXV  Monolithic  Gateway,  Tiahuanaco 234 

XXXVI  Plaque,  probably  Representing  Viracocha    ....  236 

XXXVII  Vase  Painting  from  Pachacamac  —  Coloured  .    .    .  240 

XXXVIII  Temple  of  the  Windows,  Machu  Picchu 248 

XXXIX  Carved  Seats  and  Metate 264 

XL  Vase  from  the  Island  of  Marajo 286 

XLI  Brazilian  Dance  Masks 294 

XLII  Trophy  Head,  from  Ecuador 304 


ILLUSTRATIONS   IN  THE  TEXT 

FIGURE  PAGE 

1  Chart  showing  Culture  Sequences  in  Mexico  and  Peru  .    .    .  367 

2  Figure  from  a  Potsherd,  Calchaqui  Region 369 


INTRODUCTION 

THERE  is  an  element  of  obvious  incongruity  in  the  use 
of  the  term  "Latin  American"  to  designate  the  native 
Indian  myths  of  Mexico  and  of  Central  and  South  America. 
Unfortunately,  we  have  no  convenient  geographical  term 
which  embraces  all  those  portions  of  America  which  fell  to 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  conquerors,  and  in  default  of  this, 
the  term  designating  their  culture,  Latin  in  character,  has 
come  into  use  —  aptly  enough  when  its  application  is  to 
transplanted  Iberian  institutions  and  peoples,  but  in  no 
logical  mode  relating  to  the  aborigines  of  these  regions.  More 
than  this,  there  are  no  aboriginal  unities  of  native  culture 
and  ideas  which  follow  the  divisions  made  by  the  several 
Caucasian  conquests  of  the  Americas.  It  is  primarily  as 
consequence  of  their  conquest  by  Spaniards  that  Mexico  and 
Central  America  fall  with  the  southern  continent  in  our 
thought;  from  the  point  of  view  of  their  primitive  ethnology 
there  is  little  evidence  (at  least  for  recent  times)  1  of  southern 
influence  until  Yucatan  and  Guatemala  are  passed.  There 
are,  to  be  sure,  striking  resemblances  between  the  Mexican 
and  Andean  aboriginal  civilizations;  and  there  are,  again, 
broad  similarities  between  the  ideas  and  customs  of  the  less 
advanced  tribes  of  the  two  continents,  such  that  we  may 
correctly  infer  a  certain  racial  character  as  typical  of  all  Amer- 
ican Indians;  but  amid  these  similarities  there  are  grouped 
differences  which,  as  between  the  continents,  are  scarcely  less 
distinctive  than  are  their  fauna  and  flora,  —  say,  calumet 
and  eagle's  plume  as  against  blowgun  and  parrot's  feather,  — 
and  these  hold  level  for  level:  the  Amazonian  and  the  Inca 


2  INTRODUCTION 

are  as  distinctively  South  American  as  the  Mississippian  and 
the  Aztec  are  distinctively  North  American. 

Were  the  divisions  in  a  treatment  of  American  Indian  myth 
to  follow  the  rationale  of  pre-Columbian  ethnography,2  the 
key-group  would  be  found  in  the  series  of  civilized  or  semi- 
civilized  peoples  of  the  mainly  mountainous  and  plateau 
regions  of  the  western  continental  ridge,  roughly  from  Cancer  to 
Capricorn,  or  with  outlying  spurs  from  about  35°  North 
(Zufii  and  Hop!)  to  near  35°  South  (Calchaqui-Diaguite). 
Within  this  region  native  American  agriculture  originated, 
and  along  with  agriculture  were  developed  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion in  the  forms  characteristic  of  America;  while  from  the 
several  centres  of  the  key-group  agriculture  and  attendant 
arts  passed  on  into  the  plains  and  forests  regions  and  the  great 
alluvial  valleys  of  the  two  continents  and  into  the  archipelago 
which  lies  between  them.  In  each  continent  there  is  a  region 
—  the  Boreal  and  the  Austral  —  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
the  native  agriculture,  and  untouched  by  the  arts  of  the 
central  civilizations,  yet  showing  an  unmistakable  community 
of  ideas,  of  which  (primitive  and  vague  as  they  are)  recurrent 
instances  are  to  be  found  among  the  intervening  groups.  Thus 
the  plat  and  configuration  of  autochthonous  America  divides 
into  cultural  zones  that  are  almost  those  of  the  hemispherical 
projection,  and  into  altitudes  that  are  curiously  parallel  to 
the  continental  altitudes:  the  higher  civilizations  of  the 
plateaux,  the  more  or  less  barbarous  cultures  of  the  unstable 
tribes  of  the  great  river  basins,  and  the  primitive  development 
of  the  wandering  hordes  of  the  frigid  coasts.  The  primitive 
stage  may  be  assumed  to  be  the  foundational  one  throughout 
both  continents,  and  it  is  virtually  repeated  in  the  least  ad- 
vanced groups  of  all  regions;  the  intermediate  stage  (except 
in  such  enigmatical  groups  as  that  of  the  North-West  Coast 
Indians  of  North  America)  appears  to  owe  much  to  definite 
acculturation  as  a  consequence  of  the  spread  of  the  arts  and 
industries  developed  by  the  most  advanced  peoples.  More- 


INTRODUCTION  3 

over,  the  outer  unities  of  mode  of  life  are  reflected  by  inner 
communities  of  thought;  for  there  are  unmistakable  kinships 
of  idea,  not  only  throughout  the  civilized  group,  but  also  in 
the  whole  range  of  the  regions  affected  by  its  arts;  while 
underlying  these  and  outcropping  at  the  poles,  there  is  a 
definable  stratum  of  virtually  identical  primitive  thought. 
Nevertheless,  these  unities  are  cut  across  by  differences, 
partly  environmental  and  partly  historical  in  origin,  which 
give,  as  said  above,  distinctive  character  to  the  parallel  groups 
of  the  two  continents.  One  might,  indeed,  say  that  the  cul- 
tural division  is  twinned,  north  and  south,  —  with  a  certain 
primacy,  as  of  elder  birth  and  clear  superiority  in  the  northern 
groups;  for,  on  the  whole,  the  Maya  is  superior  to  the  Inca, 
just  as  the  Iroquois  and  Sioux  are  superior  to  Carib  and 
Araucanian,  and  the  Eskimo  to  the  Fuegian. 

Such,  in  loose  form,  is  the  native  configuration  of  American 
culture  and  hence  of  native  American  thought,  and  without 
question  a  desirable  mode  of  treating  the  latter  would  be  to 
follow  this  natural  chart.  Nevertheless,  there  are  reasons  which 
fully  justify,  in  the  study  of  native  ideas,  the  bringing  together 
in  a  single  treatment  of  all  the  materials  relating  to  the  peoples 
of  Latin  America.  The  most  obvious  of  these  reasons  is  the 
unity  of  the  descriptive  literature,  in  its  earlier  and  primary 
works  almost  wholly  Spanish.  It  is  not  merely  that  such  writers 
as  Las  Casas,  Acosta,  Herrera,  and  Gomara  pass  ubiquitously 
from  region  to  region  of  the  Spanish  conquests,  now  north, 
now  south,  in  the  course  of  their  narratives;  it  is  rather  that 
a  certain  colouristic  harmony  is  derived  from  what  might  be 
termed  the  linguistic  prejudices  of  their  tongue,  which,  there- 
fore, they  share  with  those  Spanish  chroniclers  whose  field  of 
description  is  limited  to  some  one  region.  The  mere  fact  that 
the  ideas  of  an  Indian  nation  are  first  described  by  a  sixteenth 
century  Spaniard  —  friar,  bishop,  or  cavalier  —  gives  to  them 
the  flavour  of  their  translation  and  context,  and  thus  estab- 
lishes a  sort  of  community  between  all  groups  of  ideas  so  de- 


4  INTRODUCTION 

scribed.  Nor  need  this  be  matter  for  regret:  primitive  thought, 
with  its  burning  concreteness  and  its  lack  of  relational  expres- 
sion, is  as  truly  untranslatable  into  analytical  languages  as 
poetry  is  untranslatable;  and  it  is,  on  the  whole,  good  fortune 
to  have,  as  it  were,  but  one  linguistic  colour  cast  upon  so  large 
a  body  of  aboriginal  ideas. 

Further  —  what  may  not  be  to  the  liking  of  the  ethnologist, 
but  is  certainly  of  high  zest  to  the  lover  of  romance  —  the 
Spanish  colour  is  quite  as  much  in  the  nature  of  imagination 
as  in  the  hue  of  expression.  No  book  on  Latin  American 
mythology  could  be  complete  without  description  of  those 
truly  Latinian  fables  which  the  discoverers  brought  with  them 
to  the  New  World,  and  there,  wedding  them  to  native  tradi- 
tions (ill-heard  and  fabulously  repeated),  soon  created  such  a 
realm  of  gorgeous  marvel  as  glamoured  the  age  with  fantasy 
and  set  the  coolest  heads  to  mad  adventure.  In  such  names  as 
Antilles,  Brazil,  the  Amazon,  Old  World  myths  are  fixed  in 
New  World  geography;  and  beyond  these  there  is  the  whole 
series  of  fantastic  tales  with  which  the  Spaniard,  in  a  sort  of 
imaginative  munificence,  has  enriched  the  literature  and  the 
romantic  resources  of  this  world  of  ours.  The  Fountain  of 
Eternal  Youth,  the  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,  the  Island  of  the 
Amazons  and  the  marvellous  virtues  of  the  Amazon  Stone,  El 
Dorado  ("the  Gilded  Man"),  the  treasure  cities  of  Manoa 
and  Omagua,  the  lost  empire  of  the  Gran  Moxo  and  the  Gran 
Paytiti,  Patagonian  giants,  and  "men  whose  heads  do  grow 
between  their  shoulders,"  and  finally,  most  wide-spread  of  all, 
the  miracles  of  the  robed  and  bearded  white  man  who,  long 
ago,  had  come  to  teach  the  Indian  a  new  way  of  life  and  a 
purer  worship  and  had  left  the  cross  to  be  his  sign,  in  whom  no 
pious  mind  could  see  other  than  the  blessed  Saint  Thomas: 
all  these  were  in  part  a  freight  of  the  caravels,  and  they  re- 
present collectively  a  chapter  second  to  none  in  mythopoesy. 
There  is  no  match  for  this  cargo  of  imported  fantasy  in  the 
parts  of  America  colonized  by  the  English  and  the  French. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

This,  however,  need  not  be  accredited  merely  to  cooler  blood 
and  calmer  race:  the  North  American  colonies  belong  to  the 
seventeenth  century,  a  good  hundred  years  after  the  Spaniards 
had  completed  their  most  golden  conquests,  and  for  the  Span- 
iard, no  less  than  for  the  others,  the  hour  of  intoxication  and 
extravagance  had  by  then  gone  by  —  leaving  its  flamboyant 
tones  to  warm  the  colours  of  succeeding  times.  Thus  it  is  that 
Latin  American  myth  is  in  no  faint  degree  truly  Latinian. 

But  while  there  is  a  certain  Old  World  seasoning  in  Latin 
American  myth,  native  traditions  are,  of  course,  the  substan- 
tial material  of  the  study.  This  material  is  striking  and  various. 
It  embraces  the  usual  substrata  of  demoniac  beliefs  and 
animistic  credulities,  and  above  these  such  elaborate  forma- 
tions as  the  Aztec  and  Maya  pantheons,  with  their  amazing 
astral  and  calendric  interpretations,  or  the  enigmatic  and 
fervid  religion  of  Peru.  Many  of  the  stories  are  little  more 
than  vocal  superstitions;  others,  such  as  the  conquering  of 
death  in  the  Popul  Fuh,  the  Brazilian  tale  of  the  release  of  the 
imprisoned  night,  or  the  superb  Surinam  legend  of  Maconaura 
and  Anuana'itu,  will  compare,  both  for  dramatic  power  and 
subtle  suggestion,  with  the  best  that  the  world  can  show. 
There  is,  of  course,  the  constant  difficulty  of  deciding  where 
myth  clearly  emerges  from  the  misty  realm  of  folk-lore,  and, 
at  the  other  extreme,  where  it  is  succeeded  by  science  and 
religion;  but  this  difficulty  is  more  theoretic  than  practical:  in 
its  central  character  mythology  is  present  wherever  there  are 
animating  gods  operant  in  the  body  of  nature,  and  myth  is  pres- 
ent wherever  spirits  or  deities  are  shown  as  dramatically  inter- 
acting causes.  With  a  few  possible  exceptions  (the  possibility 
being  probably  but  the  expression  of  our  ignorance),  all  Ameri- 
can Indians  are  mythopoets,  whose  mythology  is  characterized 
in  characterizing  their  beliefs. 

The  practical  problem  of  handling  and  apportioning  the 
subject-matter  is  similar  to  that  presented  in  the  case  of 
North  America,  and  rather  more  difficult.  In  the  first  place, 


6  INTRODUCTION 

it  were  idle  to  undertake  the  mere  narration  of  stories  and 
superstitions  without  some  delineation  of  the  conditions  of 
the  life  and  culture  of  those  who  make  them;  frequently,  the 
whole  relevance  of  the  tale  is  to  the  manner  of  life.  In  the 
next  place,  the  feasible  mode  of  apportionment,  by  regional  di- 
visions, is  made  difficult  not  only  by  the  vastness  of  some  of 
the  regions,  but  even  more  so  by  the  unevenness  of  culture, 
and  hence  of  the  range  of  ideas.  If  the  lines  were  drawn  on  the 
scale  of  Old  World  studies,  Mexico  (Nahua  and  Maya)  and 
Peru  would  each  deserve  a  volume;  and  the  proportionately 
slight  attention  which  they  receive  in  the  present  work  is  due 
partly  to  the  need  of  giving  reasonable  space  to  other  regions, 
partly  to  the  fact  that  the  myths  of  these  fallen  empires  are 
already  represented  by  an  accessible  literature.  Still  a  third 
problem  has  to  do  with  the  order  in  which  the  matters  should 
be  presented.  From  the  point  of  view  of  native  affinities,  the 
logical  step  from  the  Antilles  is  to  the  Orinoco  and  Guiana 
region  (that  is,  from  Chapter  I  to  Chapter  VIII).3  But  since, 
in  beginning  with  the  Antilles,  one  is  really  following  the  course 
of  discovery  —  seeing,  as  it  were,  with  Spanish  eyes  —  the 
natural  continuation  is  on  to  Mexico  and  Peru,  and  thence  to 
the  more  slowly  uncovered  regions  of  central  South  America. 
This  procedure,  also,  follows  a  certain  bibliographical  trend: 
the  relative  importance  of  Spanish  authors  is  much  less  for 
the  latter  chapters  of  the  book,  and  the  sources  of  material, 
in  general,  are  of  later  origin. 

Finally,  a  word  might  be  said  with  respect  to  interpretation. 
No  matter  how  conscientiously  one  may  aim  at  straight 
narration,  the  mere  need  for  coherence  will  compel  some  in- 
terpreting; while  every  translation  is,  in  its  degree,  an  inter- 
pretation (and  one  literally  impossible).  Besides  and  beyond 
all  this,  there  are  the  prepossessions  of  the  recorders  to  be 
taken  into  account  —  honest  men  who  interpret  according 
to  their  lights.  There  are  the  Biblical  prepossessions  of  the 
early  Padres,  for  whom  the  Tower  of  Babel  and  the  Dispersion 


INTRODUCTION  7 

were  recent  and  real  events:  granting  a  Noachian  Deluge  of 
the  thoroughness  which  they  had  in  mind,  nothing  could  be 
more  rational  than  were  their  readings  of  aboriginal  legends 
of  events  of  a  kindred  nature,  or  than  their  speculations  as  to 
what' sons  of  Shem  the  Indians  might  be.  There  are  the  tradi- 
tionary visions  of  migratory  descendants  of  the  Lost  Tribes, 
of  far-wandering  Buddhist  monks,  of  sea-faring  Orientals,  and 
forgotten  Atlantideans ;  and  there  is  the  wonderful  Euhemerism 
of  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  (ever  the  more  admirable 
in  the  more  reading)  —  neither  the  first  nor  the  last  of  his 
tribe,  but  assuredly  the  most  gifted  of  them  all.  There  are, 
again,  the  theological  biases  of  missionaries,  for  whom  the 
devil  is  seldom  far  and  God  is  generally  near;  and  there  are 
the  no  less  ingrained  prejudices  of  the  anthropologists  who 
serenely  Tylorize  and  fetishize  the  most  recalcitrant  materials, 
and  of  the  philologists  who  solarize  and  astralize  because  the 
model  was  once  set  for  them.  America  has  proven  an  abun- 
dant field  for  the  illustration  of  all  these  methods  of  reading 
the  riddle  of  man's  fancy;  and  it  is  scarcely  to  be  desired  that 
one  should  report  the  matters  without  some  reflection  of  the 
colourations.  But,  in  sooth,  how  could  myth  be  myth  apart 
from  meaning? 

Which  leads  (by  no  devious  routing  of  reflection)  to  some 
consideration  of  the  meaning  of  mythology  and  of  our  interest 
in  it.  Such  interest  may  be  of  any  of  several  types.  A  first, 
and  still  persistent,  interest,  and  one  to  which  we  owe,  for 
America,  from  Ramon  Pane  onward,  more  actual  material 
than  to  any  other,  is  the  desire  of  the  Christian  missionary  to 
discover  in  the  native  mind  those  points  of  approach  and 
elements  of  community  which  will  best  enable  him  to  spread 
the  faith  of  Christendom.  In  many  cases,  of  course,  the  mis- 
sionary is  seized  with  a  purely  speculative  zeal  for  recording 
facts,  but  it  is  usually  possible  in  such  records  to  detect 
the  influence  of  the  impulse  which  first  brought  him  into  the 
field,  —  and  which,  it  may  be  added,  makes  of  his  services  a 


8  INTRODUCTION 

matter  for  the  gratitude  of  all  who  follow  him.  A  second  in- 
terest, which  is  often  not  sharply  divorced  from  the  first,  as 
instanced  in  Missionary  Brett's  poetizing  of  the  myths  of  the 
Guiana  Indians,4  is  the  aesthetic  and  imaginative.  What 
classical  mythology  has  done  for  the  art  and  poetry  of  Chris- 
tian Europe  all  men  know:  Dante  and  Milton,  Botticelli  and 
Michelangelo  are  only  less  its  debtors  than  are  Homer  and 
Phidias.  Further,  the  Renaissance  curiosity,  with  its  passion 
for  the  antique  gems  and  heathen  gods  whose  forms  so  stimu- 
lated its  own  expressions,  was  at  its  height  when  America  was 
discovered  and  conquered;  and  it  is  small  wonder  that  that 
interest  was  transformed,  where  the  marvel  of  the  New  World 
was  in  question,  into  a  wave  of  American  exotism  which  rose 
to  its  crest  in  the  humanitarian  enthusiasm  of  the  eighteenth 
century.5  In  our  own  day  this  interest  is  continuing,  more 
soberly  but  not  less  fruitfully,  in  a  deliberate  effort  on  the  part 
of  artists,  of  poets,  and  of  musicians  to  discover  the  elements 
of  lasting  beauty  in  the  native  arts  and  mythic  themes.  From 
a  certain  point  of  view  there  is  a  peril  in  the  aesthetic  interest: 
most  investigators  consciously  or  unconsciously  possess  it,  and 
most  recorders  of  native  myths  consciously  or  unconsciously 
dress  their  materials  with  the  suaver  forms  of  expression 
which  the  cultivated  languages  of  Europe  have  developed. 
There  is,  in  other  words,  some  untruth  to  aboriginal  thought 
in  the  desire  to  find  or  inject  art  where  the  original  motive 
was  realistic,  or,  if  aesthetic,  governed  by  a  taste  foreign  to 
our  own.  On  the  other  hand,  we  recognize  readily  enough 
that  the  real  creative  gain,  in  an  artistic  sense,  must  come 
from  an  amalgamation,  and  with  such  an  example  of  artis- 
tic achievement  through  amalgamation  as  is  afforded  by  the 
Renaissance,  we  can  but  hope  that  the  more  intimate  adoption 
of  the  ideas  and  motives  of  American  Indian  art  into  our  own 
aesthetic  consciousness  may  yet  result  in  an  American  Renais- 
sance no  less  notable. 

A  third  interest  in  American  mythology  is  that  of  the  an- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

thropologists,  by  whom  the  domain  is  today  most  cultivated. 
Here  the  foundation  is  scientific  curiosity  and  the  modes  are 
those  of  the  natural  and  historical  sciences.  This  type  of  in- 
terest, of  course,  determines  its  own  problems  and  methods. 
For  example,  to  it  we  owe  most  of  the  exact  recording  and 
minute  analysis  of  materials:  the  preservation  of  texts  in  the 
native  tongues,  and  the  careful  application  of  ethnological 
and  archaeological  observations  to  their  interpretation.  Nat- 
urally, the  key-problem  here  is  of  the  origin  and  distribution 
of  the  American  Indian  peoples,  and  the  reconstruction  of 
their  history,  both  physical  and  ideational,  —  wherein  recent 
advances  have  been  veritably  in  the  nature  of  strides.  Along 
with  this  problem  of  distribution  and  genesis  there  has  co- 
existed the  complementary  question  of  the  influence  of  nature 
(human  and  environmental)  upon  the  forms  of  expression  — 
a  question  to  which  one  might  ascribe  three  facets,  the  philo- 
logical, the  sociological,  and  the  more  strictly  bionomic,  with 
its  strong  Darwinian  leanings.  Ultimately  the  two  comple- 
mental  problems  resolve  into  an  effort  to  read  human  nature, 
as  human  nature  is  reflected  in  its  express  reactions  to  the 
complex  world  by  which  it  is  modified  even  while  it  offers  a 
conserving  resistance,  born  of  the  strength  of  its  traditions 
and  of  racial  solidarity.  This  means,  at  the  bottom,  an  interest 
in  human  psychology. 

It  is  here  that  the  anthropological  interest  in  mythology 
passes  over  into  the  philosophical.  Philosophy  strives  to 
achieve,  as  it  were,  a  generalized  autobiography  of  the  human 
mind.  It  starts,  inevitably,  with  psychology,  and  with  those 
elemental  unities  of  experience  which  our  senses  (inner  and 
outer)  determine  for  us;  it  goes  on  to  try  to  discover  the  range 
and  fullness  of  meaning  of  all  the  variations  of  human  ex- 
perience. Philosophers  are  interested  in  mythology,  therefore, 
primarily  from  a  psychological  standpoint:  they  are  interested 
in  reading  the  mind's  complexion,  as  mythopoesy  reflects  it; 
in  analyzing  out  the  images  of  sense  in  human  thought,  the 


io  INTRODUCTION 

images  of  instinct,  of  kind  and  kin,  of  speech  and  number; 
and  again  in  reviewing  the  natural  reactions  of  the  human 
spirit  to  the  visible  and  sensible  world,  with  its  seasons  and 
cycles  and  evident  metamorphoses,  —  reactions  which  start, 
apparently,  with  a  dreamy  consciousness  of  the  fluid  and  in- 
coherent character  of  an  outer,  man-environing  world,  and 
culminate  in  a  sense  of  the  allegory  and  drama  of  things 
physical,  and  the  discovery  of  a  thinking  self,  still  hazy  as  to 
its  powers  and  its  limitations.  The  biographic  tale  is  a  long 
one;  it  begins  in  savagery  and  continues  on  into  the  highest 
civilization;  it  is  today  unfinished,  and  so  long  as  man  lives 
and  thinks  must  continue  unfinished;  but  it  is  not  without 
form,  and  its  continuities  become  the  more  obvious  with  the 
extension  of  our  knowledge  of  men. 

It  should  be  added  that  each  of  the  interests  which  have 
been  named  shares  in  or  leads  to  that  final  interest  which  is 
most  appropriate  to  all,  namely,  a  common  concern  for  human 
welfare.  The  missionary  interest  is  obviously  actuated  by 
this  from  the  very  beginning,  and,  as  applied  to  America,  it 
has  produced  (in  Las  Casas  and  his  many  notable  successors) 
a  truly  wonderful  series  of  apostolic  figures  —  in  themselves 
a  moving  revelation  of  the  possibilities  of  human  nature. 
Hardly  less  striking  is  the  humanitarianism  which  has  accom- 
panied the  aesthetic  interest  —  one  need  but  mention  Mon- 
taigne's sympathetic  curiosity,  Rousseau,  fantastic  in  his 
eighteenth  century  credulity,  Chateaubriand,  with  his  "epic 
of  the  man  of  nature,"  or  Fenimore  Cooper's  idealization  of 
the  savage  chivalrous, — while  the  curiosity  of  the  anthropolo- 
gist and  the  philosopher,  as  must  all  honest  curiosity  about 
things  human,  leads  at  the  last  to  understanding  and  sym- 
pathy, and  ultimately  to  an  active  desire  to  preserve  the  mani- 
fest good  which  enlightens  every  chapter  in  the  narrative  of 
human  progress. 

Finally,  it  is  perhaps  worth  observing  that  America  affords 
a  field  of  truly  unique  profit  for  all  of  these  interests.  The 


INTRODUCTION  n 

long  isolation  of  its  inhabitants  from  the  balance  of  mankind, 
the  variety  of  the  forms  and  levels  of  their  native  achievement, 
the  intrinsic  value  to  humanity  at  large  of  what  they  did 
achieve,  both  in  material  and  ideal  modes,  all  unite  to  give 
to  the  races  of  the  New  Hemisphere  an  almost  other-world 
distinction  from  the  Old  World  peoples  from  whose  midst  (in 
some  remote  day)  they  doubtless  sprang.  It  is  true  that  the 
resemblances  between  the  modes  of  life  and  the  bent  of  thought 
in  the  two  Worlds  are  as  striking  and  numerous  as  their  diver- 
gences; but  this  fact  is  in  itself  of  the  highest  significance  in 
that  it  emphasizes  that  fundamental  unity,  spiritual  as  well  as 
physical,  which  is  of  the  whole  human  brotherhood. 

It  is  surely  apparent  that  one  book  cannot  satisfy  all  the 
interests  which  have  been  here  defined.  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  a  description  which  should  show  what,  in  the  main, 
are  the  materials  to  be  found  and  how  they  are  distributed 
with  reference  to  accessible  sources  of  study  might  well  con- 
tribute to  all.  Nothing  more  ambitious  than  this  is  in  the 
plan  of  the  present  work. 


LATIN-AMERICAN   MYTHOLOGY 


LATIN-AMERICAN 
MYTHOLOGY 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  ANTILLES 

L  THE  ISLANDERS1 

A  GLANCE  at  a  map  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  reveals 
two  great  continents,  North  and  South  America,  some- 
what tenuously  united  by  the  Isthmus  and  the  Antilles.  The 
Isthmus  is  solid,  mountainous  land,  forming  a  part  of  that 
backbone  of  the  hemisphere  which  extends  along  its  western 
border,  continuous  from  Alaska  to  the  Land  of  Fire.  The  An- 
tilles are  an  archipelago,  or  rather  a  group  of  archipelagoes, 
extending  without  gap  from  the  tip  of  Florida  to  Trinidad  and 
the  mouths  of  the  Orinoco.  Both  connexions  have  a  certain 
weight,  or  leaning,  toward  North  America.  The  Isthmus  nar- 
rows southward  almost  to  the  point  of  its  attachment  to 
South  America,  while  to  the  north  it  broadens  out  into  Central 
America,  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan,  and  the  plateau  of  Mexico. 
Similarly,  the  southern  division  of  the  archipelago,  the  Lesser 
Antilles,  forms  an  arc  of  islets,  mere  stepping-stones,  as  it  were, 
from  the  southern  continent  to  the  large  islands  of  the  Greater 
Antilles  —  Porto  Rico,  Hispaniola  or  Haiti,  Jamaica,  Cuba  — 
which  are  natural  outliers  of  the  continent  to  the  north.  Cuba, 
indeed,  almost  unites  Yucatan  and  Florida;  while  breasting 
Cuba  and  Florida,  toward  the  open  sea,  is  a  third  island 
group,  the  Bahamas,  still  further  emphasizing  the  northern 
predominance. 


16  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

There  is  a  superficial  resemblance  between  the  connexions 
of  the  northern  and  southern  land  bodies  in  the  Old  World  and 
in  the  New  —  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  having  its  counterpart  in 
Panama;  the  peninsulas  and  large  islands  of  southern  Europe 
corresponding  to  Florida,  Yucatan,  and  the  Greater  Antilles; 
and  the  break  at  Gibraltar  suggesting  the  uncertain  bridge  of 
the  Lesser  Antilles.  But  the  resemblance  is  merely  superficial. 
The  Mediterranean  served  far  more  as  a  unifier  than  as  a 
divider  of  cultures  and  civilizations  in  antiquity;  all  its  shores 
were  in  a  sense  a  single  land  even  before  Rome  united  them 
politically.  The  Caribbean,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  true 
obstacle  to  the  primitive  intercourse  of  the  western  conti- 
nents, having  its  proper  Old  World  analogue  in  the  Sahara 
Desert  rather  than  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  In  fact,  we  can 
carry  this  truer  analogy  a  step  further,  pointing  out  that  just 
as  Old  World  culture  went  southward,  from  Egypt  into  Ethio- 
pia, by  way  of  the  comparatively  secure  route  of  the  Nile,  so 
New  World  civilization  found  its  securest  path  by  way  of  the 
solid  land  of  the  Isthmus,  while  the  islets  of  the  Lesser  An- 
tilles and  the  isle-like  oases  of  the  Sahara  were  alike  unfriendly 
to  profoundly  influential  intercourse. 

In  one  striking  particular  the  analogies  of  the  Old  World 
are  reversed  in  the  New:  at  least  in  recent  periods,  the  migra- 
tion of  native  races  and  culture  has  been  from  the  south  to 
the  north.  This  is  the  more  extraordinary  in  view  of  the  land 
predominance  which,  as  has  been  indicated,  belongs  to  the 
north.  The  Isthmus  was  held  by,  and  is  now  representative 
of,  the  Chibchan  stock,  extending  far  south  into  Ecuador; 
while  the  Antilles,  at  the  time  of  the  discovery,  were  almost 
entirely  possessed  by  tribes  of  two  great  South  American 
stocks,  Arawakan  and  Carib.  In  Cuba,  and  probably  in  the 
Bahamas,  there  were  remnants  of  more  ancient  peoples  — 
timid  and  crude  folk,  whose  kindred  seem  to  have  been  the 
makers  of  the  shell-mounds  of  Florida,  and  whose  provenience 
was  doubtless  the  northern  continent;  but  neither  the  race 


THE  ANTILLES  17 

nor  the  affinities  of  these  vanished  peoples  is  certainly  known; 
even  in  pre-Columbian  times  they  were  succumbing  to  the 
war-like  Calusa  of  southern  Florida  and  to  the  still  more  dan- 
gerous Arawakan  tribes  from  the  south. 

Of  the  two  powerful  races  from  the  south,  the  first  com- 
ers were  doubtless  the  Taino2  (as  the  Antillean  Arawak  are 
named),  whom  the  Spaniards  found  in  possession  of  most  of 
Cuba  and  of  the  other  greater  islands,  Porto  Rico  alone  show- 
ing a  strong  Carib  element  along  with  the  Arawak.  The 
Lesser  Antilles,  bordering  the  sea  which  was  named  for  their 
race,  was  inhabited  by  Carib  tribes,  whose  language  com- 
prised a  man-tongue  and  a  woman-tongue,  the  latter  contain- 
ing many  Arawak  words  —  a  fact  which  has  led  to  the  in- 
teresting (though  uncertain)  inference  that  the  first  Carib 
invaders  slew  all  the  warriors  of  their  Arawak  predecessors, 
taking  the  women  for  their  own  wives.  Only  when  they  came 
to  Porto  Rico,  the  first  of  the  Greater  Antilles  in  their  route, 
were  they  partially  stopped  by  the  mass  and  strength  of  the 
more  highly  developed  Taino  peoples;  some,  indeed,  obtained 
a  foothold  here,  while  beyond,  in  Hispaniola,  one  of  the  five 
caciques 3  dividing  the  power  of  the  island  was  reputed  a 
Carib,  and  in  Cuba  itself  have  been  found  bones  believed  to 
be  those  of  Carib  marauders.  The  typical  culture  of  the  An- 
tilles, that  of  the  Arawakan  Taino,  was  scarcely  less  aggres- 
sive than  the  Carib.  Arawaks  gained  a  foothold  in  Florida, 
and  their  influence,  in  trade  at  least,  seems  to  have  extended 
far  into  Muskhogean  territories  to  the  north,  while  it  may 
have  affected  Yucatan  and  Honduras  to  the  west.  Nor  was  it 
meanly  savage  in  type.  The  Antilles  furnish  every  incentive 
of  climate,  food  supply,  rich  resources,  and  easy  communica- 
tion for  development  of  civilization;  and  at  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  the  Taino  peoples,  they  were  already  advanced  in 
the  arts  of  agriculture,  pottery-making,  weaving,  and  stone- 
working,  combined  with  some  knowledge  of  metals.  Further- 
more, they  had  developed  their  social  organization  to  such  an 


18  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

extent  that  their  chiefs,  or  caciques,  with  power  in  some  cases 
hereditary,  were  the  heads  of  veritable  nations  —  all  of  Ja- 
maica was  under  one  ruler,  Hispaniola  had  five,  while  the 
Ciboney  of  Cuba  and  the  Borinquefio  of  Porto  Rico  were 
powerful  peoples.  The  Spanish  conquerors  of  the  islands  suc- 
ceeded early  in  virtually  annihilating  these  nations,  but  their 
handiwork  and  the  traditions  which  they  have  left  still  com- 
mand respect. 

II.   THE   FIRST  ENCOUNTERS4 

Even  before  Columbus's  day  the  mythical  Island  of  Antilia 
was  marked  on  the  maps  out  in  the  Atlantic  west;  and  when  the 
archipelago  which  Columbus  first  discovered  came  to  be  known 
as  an  archipelago,  the  name,  in  the  plural  form  Antilles,  was 
not  unnaturally  applied  to  it.  Probably,  too,  it  was  with 
more  than  the  glamour  of  discovery  —  enchanting  as  that 
must  have  been  —  that  Columbus  first  looked  upon  the  new- 
found lands.  From  time  immemorial  European  imagination 
had  been  haunted  by  legends  of  Isles  of  the  Gods,  Isles  of  the 
Happy  Dead  —  Fortunate  Isles,  in  some  weird  sense,  lying 
far  out  in  the  enchanted  seas;  and  it  is  no  marvel  if  Columbus 
should  have  felt  himself  the  finder  of  this  blessed  realm.  In 
one  of  his  letters  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  he  wrote:  "This 
country  excels  all  others  as  far  as  the  day  surpasses  the  night 
in  splendour;  the  natives  love  their  neighbours  as  themselves; 
their  conversation  is  the  sweetest  imaginable;  their  faces 
always  smiling;  and  so  gentle  and  so  affectionate  are  they  that 
I  swear  to  your  highness  there  is  not  a  better  people  in  the 
world." 

Something  of  the  same  idealization,  coupled  with  a  happy 
ignorance,  underlay,  no  doubt,  the  statement  which  Columbus 
makes  in  his  letters  to  Ferdinand's  officials,  Gabriel  Sanchez 
and  Luis  de  Santangel,  describing  his  first  voyage:  "They 
are  not  acquainted  with  any  kind  of  worship  and  are  not 


THE   ANTILLES  19 

idolaters,  but  believe  that  all  power  and,  indeed,  all  good 
things  are  in  heaven."  Columbus  adds  that  the  natives  be- 
lieved him  and  his  vessels  and  his  crews  to  be  descended  from 
heaven,  and  the  Indians  whom  he  took  with  him  from  his  first 
landing,  to  serve  as  interpreters,  cried  out  to  the  others, 
"Come,  come,  and  see  the  people  from  heaven!"  This  same 
simplicity  was  cruelly  exploited  by  the  Spaniards  of  later  date, 
for  after  the  mines  of  Hispaniola  were  opened,  and  the  native 
labour  of  the  island  was  exhausted,  the  Bahamas  were  nearly 
emptied  of  inhabitants  by  the  ruse  that  the  Spaniards  would 
convey  them  to  the  shores  where  dwelt  their  departed  rela- 
tives and  friends.  Belief  in  heaven-spirits  and  belief  in  living 
souls  of  their  dead  were  surely  deep-seated  in  these  first-met 
of  New  World  peoples. 

The  earliest  encounters  were  probably  with  tribes  of  the 
Tamo  race,  for  the  Indians  taken  from  San  Salvador  were 
readily  understood  in  the  Greater  Antilles;  and  it  was  with 
this  race  that  Columbus  had  to  do  on  his  initial  voyage.  Yet 
even  then  he  was  learning  of  other  peoples.  He  was  told  that 
in  the  western  part  of  Cuba  ("Juana"  was  the  name  he  gave 
to  the  island)  there  was  a  province  whose  inhabitants  were 
born  with  tails  —  a  form  of  derogation  of  inferior  peoples 
familiar  in  many  parts  of  the  world  —  and  the  story  very 
likely  designated  remnants  of  the  autochthones  of  the  islands. 
Again,  as  he  explored  eastward,  he  began  to  hear  of  the  Carib 
cannibals,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted  on  later  voyages. 
"These  are  the  men,"  he  reports,  "who  form  unions  with 
certain  women  who  dwell  alone  in  the  island  of  Matenino, 
which  lies  next  to  Espanola  on  the  side  toward  India;  these 
latter  employ  themselves  in  no  labour  suitable  to  their  own 
sex,  for  they  use  bows  and  javelins  as  I  have  already  described 
their  paramours  as  doing,  and  for  defensive  armour  they  have 
plates  of  brass,  of  which  metal  they  possess  great  abundance." 
Thus  we  have  the  beginning  of  that  legend  of  Amazons  5  in 
the  New  World  which  not  only  occupied  the  fancies  of  ex- 


20  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

plorers  and  historiographers  for  many  decades,  but  eventually, 
as  the  domain  of  these  mythical  women  was  pushed  farther 
and  farther  into  the  beyond,  gave  its  name  to  the  great  river 
which  drains  what  was  then  the  mysterious  heart  of  the 
southern  continent.  Possibly  the  source  of  the  tale  lay  in  a 
difference  of  Tamo  and  Carib  customs,  for  among  the  latter 
the  women,  as  the  Spaniards  speedily  discovered,  were  quick 
with  bow  and  spear;  possibly  it  lay  in  the  fact,  already  noted, 
that  the  Caribs,  dispatching  the  men  of  a  conquered  tribe, 
formed  unions  with  their  women,  who  spoke  a  language  differ- 
ing from  that  of  their  conquerors. 

Other  legends  of  the  Old  World,  besides  that  of  Amazonian 
warriors,  gained  a  footing  in  the  New,  mingling,  not  infre- 
quently, with  similar  native  tales.  The  "Septe  Cidade"  of 
the  Island  of  Antilia  had  been  founded,  according  to  Portu- 
guese tradition,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Oporto  and  six  bishops, 
fleeing  from  the  Moors  in  the  eighth  century;  and  it  was  these 
cities,  identified  by  the  Spaniards  with  the  seven  caves  whence 
the  Aztecs  traced  their  race,  that  led  Cabeza  de  Vaca  onward 
in  his  search  for  the  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola  and  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  the  Pueblos  in  New  Mexico.  Similarly,  Ponce  de 
Leon  partly  brought  and  partly  found  the  story  of  the  Fountain 
of  Youth,6  or  the  life-renewing  Jordan,  in  search  of  which  he 
went  into  Florida.  The  story  is  narrated  in  the  "Memoir  on 
Florida"  of  Hernando  d'Escalente  Fontaneda,  who  says  that 
the  Indians  of  Cuba  and  the  other  isles  told  lies  of  this  mythical 
river;  but  that  the  story  was  not  merely  invented  as  a  gratifica- 
tion of  the  Spaniards'  thirst  for  marvels  is  suggested  by  Fon- 
taneda's  further  statement  that  long  before  his  time  a  great 
number  of  Indians  from  Cuba  had  come  into  Florida  in  search 
of  this  same  wonder  —  a  possible  explanation  of  the  Arawakan 
colony  on  the  Florida  coast. 

But  it  was  chiefly  with  tales  of  gold  that  the  Spaniards' 
ears  were  pleasured.  Columbus,  writing  to  de  Santangel, 
promised  his  sovereigns  not  only  spices  and  dyes  and  Brazil- 


THE  ANTILLES  21 

wood  from  their  new  realm,  fruits  and  cotton  and  slaves,  but 
"gold  as  much  as  they  need";  and  this  promise  was  all  too 
well  founded  for  the  good  of  either  Spaniard  or  native,  since 
the  spoil  of  western  gold,  more  than  aught  else,  resulted  in  the 
wars  which  eventually  impoverished  Spain;  and  thirst  for 
sudden  wealth  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  early  extermination 
of  the  native  peoples  of  the  Antilles.  Las  Casas,  bitter  and 
full  of  pity,  gives  us  the  contrasting  pictures.  The  first  is  of 
the  cacique  Hatuey,7  fled  from  Haiti  to  Cuba  to  escape  the 
Spaniards  and  there  assembling  his  people  before  a  chest  of 
gold:  "Behold,"  he  said,  "the  god  of  the  Spaniards!  Let  us 
do  to  him,  if  it  seem  good  to  you,  areitos  [solemn  dances],  that 
thus  doing  we  shall  please  him,  and  he  will  command  the 
Spaniards  that  they  do  us  no  harm."  The  other  is  the  image  of 
the  Spanish  tyrant,  enslaving  the  Indians  in  mines  "to  the 
end  that  he  might  make  gold  of  the  bodies  and  souls  of  those 
for  whom  Jesus  Christ  suffered  death." 

III.  ZEMIISM8 

The  Spanish  conquistador,  reckless  of  native  life  in  his  eager 
quest  of  gold,  and  the  Spanish  preaching  friar,  often  yielding 
himself  to  death  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  are  the  two 
types  of  men  most  impressively  delineated  in  the  pages  of  the 
first  decades  of  Spain's  history  in  America,  illustrating  the 
complex  and  conflicting  motives  which  urged  the  great  ad- 
venture. As  early  as  the  writings  of  Columbus  these  two 
motives  stand  out,  and  the  promise  of  wealth  and  the  promise 
of  souls  to  save  are  alike  eloquent  in  his  thought.  In  order  to 
convert,  one  must  first  understand;  and  Columbus  himself 
is  our  earliest  authority  on  the  religion  of  the  men  of  the  In- 
dies, showing  how  his  mind  was  moved  to  this  problem.  In 
the  History  of  the  Life  of  Columbus,  by  his  son  Fernando,  the 
Admiral  is  quoted  in  description  of  the  Indian  religion. 

"I  could  discover,"  he  says,  "neither  idolatry  nor  any  other 


22  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

sect  among  them,  though  every  one  of  their  kings  .  .  .  has  a 
house  apart  from  the  town,  in  which  there  is  nothing  at  all  but 
some  wooden  images  carved  by  them,  called  cemis ,  nor  is 
there  anything  done  in  those  houses  but  what  is  for  the  ser- 
vice of  those  cemis,  they  repairing  to  perform  certain  ceremo- 
nies, and  pray  there,  as  we  do  to  our  churches.  In  these  houses 
they  have  a  handsome  round  table,  made  like  a  dish,  on  which 
is  some  powder  which  they  lay  on  the  head  of  the  cemis  with  a 
certain  ceremony;  then  through  a  cane  that  has  two  branches, 
clapped  to  their  nose,  they  snuff  up  this  powder:  the  words 
they  say  none  of  our  people  understand.  This  powder  puts 
them  beside  themselves,  as  if  they  were  drunk.  They  also 
give  the  image  a  name,  and  I  believe  it  is  their  father's  or 
grandfather's,  or  both;  for  they  have  more  than  one,  and  some 
above  ten,  all  in  memory  of  their  forefathers.  .  .  .  The  peo- 
ple and  caciques  boast  among  themselves  of  having  the  best 
cemis.  When  they  go  to  these,  their  cemis,  they  shun  the 
Christians,  and  will  not  let  them  go  into  those  houses;  and  if 
they  suspect  they  will  come,  they  take  away  their  cemis  and 
hide  them  in  the  woods  for  fear  they  should  be  taken  from 
them;  and  what  is  most  ridiculous,  they  used  to  steal  one  an- 
other's cemis.  It  happened  once  that  the  Christians  on  a 
sudden  rushed  into  the  house  with  them,  and  presently  the 
cemi  cried  out,  speaking  in  their  language,  by  which  it  ap- 
peared to  be  artificially  made;  for  it  being  hollow  they  had 
applied  a  trunk  to  it,  which  answered  to  a  dark  corner  of  the 
house  covered  with  boughs  and  leaves,  where  a  man  was  con- 
cealed who  spoke  what  the  cacique  ordered  him.  The  Span- 
iards, therefore,  reflecting  on  what  it  might  be,  kicked  down  the 
cemi,  and  found  as  has  been  said;  and  the  cacique,  seeing  they 
had  discovered  his  practice,  earnestly  begged  of  them  not  to 
speak  of  it  to  his  subjects,  or  the  other  Indians,  because  he 
kept  them  in  obedience  by  that  policy." 

This,  the  great  Admiral  quaintly  concedes,  "has  some  re- 
semblance to  idolatry."    In  fact,  his  description  points  clearly 


THE  ANTILLES  23 

to  well-developed  cults:  there  are  temples,  with  altars,  idols, 
oracles,  and  priests,  and  there  is  even  a  shrewd  adaptation  of 
religion  to  politics  —  the  certain  mark  of  sophistication  in 
matters  of  cult.  Benzoni,  who  visited  the  Indies  some  fifty 
years  after  their  discovery,  says  of  the  islanders:  "They  wor- 
shipped, and  still  worship,  various  deities,  many  painted, 
others  sculptured,  some  formed  of  clay,  others  of  wood,  or 
gold,  or  silver.  .  .  .  And  although  our  priests  still  daily  en- 
deavour to  destroy  these  idols,  yet  the  ministers  of  their  faith 
keep  a  great  many  of  them  hidden  in  caves  and  underground, 
sacrificing  to  them  occultly,  and  asking  in  what  manner  they 
can  possibly  expel  the  Christians  from  their  country."  Idols  of 
gold  and  silver  have  not  been  preserved  to  modern  times,  but 
examples  in  stone  and  wood  and  baked  clay  are  in  present- 
day  collections,  and  one,  at  least,  of  the  wooden  images  has  a 
hollow  head,  open  at  the  back  for  the  reception  of  the  speak- 
ing-tube by  which  the  priest  conveyed  the  wisdom  of  his 
cacique.  A  peculiar  type  of  Antillean  cultus-image,  men- 
tioned by  Peter  Martyr,  among  others,  was  made  of  "plaited 
cotton,  tightly  stuffed  inside,"  though  its  use  seems  to  have 
been  rather  in  connexion  with  funeral  rites  (perhaps  as  apotro- 
paic  fetishes)  than  in  worship  of  nature-powers. 

The  work  of  archaeologists,  especially  in  the  Greater  An- 
tilles, has  brought  to  light  many  curious  objects  certainly 
connected  with  the  old  Antillean  cults.  There  are  idols  and 
images,  ranging  in  height  from  near  three  feet  to  an  inch  or 
so;  and  the  latter,  often  perforated,  were  used,  perhaps,  as 
Peter  Martyr  describes:  "When  they  are  about  to  go  into 
battle,  they  tie  small  images  representing  little  demons  upon 
their  foreheads."  There  are,  again,  masks  and  grotesque  faces, 
sometimes  cunningly  carved,  sometimes  crude  pictographs. 
Most  characteristic  are  the  triangular  stones  with  a  human 
or  an  animal  face  on  one  side;  the  stone  collars  or  yokes,  some 
slender  and  some  massive  in  construction,  but  all  representing 
laborious  toil;  and  the  "elbow  stones"  with  carved  panels  — 


24  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

objects  of  which  the  true  use  and  meaning  is  forgotten,  though 
their  connexion  with  cult  is  not  to  be  doubted.9  Possibly  a 
hint  of  their  meaning  is  to  be  found  in  the  narrative  of  Colum- 
bus, which,  after  describing  the  zemis,  goes  on  to  say:  "Most 
of  the  caciques  have  three  great  stones  also,  to  which  they  and 
their  people  show  a  great  devotion.  The  one  they  say  helps 
corn  and  all  sorts  of  grain;  the  second  makes  women  be  de- 
livered without  pain;  and  the  third  procures  rain  and  fair 
weather,  according  as  they  stand  in  need  of  either." 

From  the  name  zemi  (variously  spelt  by  the  older  writers), 
applied  to  the  Antillean  cult-images,  the  aboriginal  faith  of 
this  region  has  come  to  be  called  zemiism;  and  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult, from  the  descriptions  left  us,  to  reconstruct  its  general 
character.  "They  believe,"  says  Peter  Martyr,  "that  the 
zemes  send  rain  or  sunshine  in  response  to  their  prayers,  ac- 
cording to  their  needs.  They  believe  the  zemes  to  be  inter- 
mediaries between  them  and  God,  whom  they  represent  as 
one,  eternal,  omnipotent,  and  invisible.  Each  cacique  has  his 
zemeSj  which  he  honours  with  particular  care.  Their  an- 
cestors gave  to  the  supreme  and  eternal  Being  two  names, 
locauna  and  Guamaonocon.  But  this  supreme  Being  was 
himself  brought  forth  by  a  mother,  who  has  five  names,  Atta- 
beira,  Mamona,  Guacarapita,  lella,  and  Guimazoa."  Here  we 
have  the  typical  American  Indian  conception  of  Mother  Earth 
and  Father  Sky  and  a  host  of  intermediary  powers,  deriving 
their  potency  in  some  dim  way  from  the  two  great  life-givers. 
In  the  name  zemi  itself  is  perhaps  an  indication  of  the  animistic 
foundation  of  the  religion,  for  by  some  authorities  it  is  held  to 
mean  "animal"  or  "animal-being,"  while  others  see  in  it  a 
corruption  of  guami,  "ruler"  —  a  source  which  would  ally  it 
with  one  of  the  terms  for  the  Supreme  Being  as  given  by  Peter 
Martyr;  for  Guamaonocon  is  interpreted  as  meaning  "Ruler 
of  the  Earth." 

Other  appellations  of  the  Sky  Father,  who  "lives  in  the 
sun,"  are  Jocakuvague,  Yocahu,  Vague,  and  Maorocon  or 


PLATE   II 

Antillean  triangular  carved  stones,  lateral  and 
top  views.  In  addition  to  the  grotesque  masks, 
limbs  are  clearly  indicated.  For  reference  to  their 
probable  significance,  see  pages  23-24  and  the  note 
given  in  connexion  (page  350).  After  25  ARBE, 
Plates  XLVI  and  XLIX. 


THE  ANTILLES  25 

Maorocoti;  while  Fray  Ramon  Pane  gives  names  for  the  Earth 
Mother  closely  paralleling  Peter  Martyr's  list:  Atabei  ("First- 
in-Being"),  lermaoguacar,  Apito,  and  Zuimaco.  Guabancex 
was  a  goddess  of  wind  and  water,  and  had  two  subordinates, 
Guatauva,  her  messenger,  and  Coatrischie,  the  tempest- 
raiser.  Yobanua-Borna  was  a  rain-deity  whose  shrine  was  in 
a  cavern,  and  who  likewise  had  two  subordinates,  or  ministers. 
The  Haitians  ar,e  said  to  have  made  pilgrimages  to  a  cave  in 
which  were  kept  two  statues  of  wood,  gods  again  of  rain,  or 
of  sun  and  rain;  and  it  is  likely  that  the  double-figure  images 
preserved  from  this  region  are  representations  of  these  or  of 
some  other  pair  of  Antillean  twin  deities.  Baidrama,  or  Vay- 
brama,  was  also  seemingly  a  twinned  divinity,  and  clearly 
was  the  strength-giver:  "They  say,"  Fray  Ramon  tells  us, 
"in  time  of  wars  he  was  burnt,  and  afterwards  being  washed 
with  the  juice  of  yucca,  his  arms  grew  out  again,  his  body 
spread,  and  he  recovered  his  eyes";  and  the  worshippers  of 
the  god  bathed  themselves  in  the  sap  of  the  yucca  when  they 
desired  strength  or  healing.  Other  zemis  mentioned  by  Pane 
are  Opigielguoviran,  a  dog-like  being  which  plunged  into  a 
morass  when  the  Spaniards  came,  never  to  be  seen  again;  and 
Faraguvaol,  a  beam  or  tree-trunk  with  the  power  of  wander- 
ing at  will.  Here  there  seems  to  be  indication  of  a  vegetation- 
cult,  which  is  borne  out  by  Pane's  description  of  the  way  in 
which  wooden  zemis  were  made  —  strikingly  analogous  to 
West  African  fetish-construction:  "Those  of  wood  are  made 
thus:  when  any  one  is  travelling  he  says  he  sees  some  tree 
that  shakes  its  root;  the  man,  in  great  fright,  stops  and  asks 
who  he  is;  it  answers,  'My  name  is  Buhuitihu  [a  name  for 
priest,  or  medicine-man],10  and  he  will  inform  you  who  I  am.' 
The  man  repairing  to  the  said  physician,  tells  him  what  he 
has  seen.  The  wizard,  or  conjurer,  runs  immediately  to  see 
the  tree  the  other  has  told  him  of,  sits  down  by  it  and  makes 
it  cogioba  [an  offering  of  tobacco]  .  .  .  He  stands  up,  gives  it 
all  its  titles,  as  if  it  were  some  great  lord,  and  asks  of  it,  'Tell 


26  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

me  who  you  are,  what  you  do  here,  what  you  will  have  with  me, 
and  why  you  send  for  me?  Tell  me  whether  you  will  have  me 
cut  you,  whether  you  will  go  along  with  me,  and  how  you  will 
have  me  carry  you;  and  I  will  build  you  a  house  and  endow  it.' 
Immediately  that  tree,  or  cemi,  becomes  an  idol,  or  devil, 
answers,  telling  how  he  will  have  him  do  it.  He  cuts  it  into 
such  a  shape  as  he  is  directed,  builds  his  house,  and  endows 
it;  and  makes  cogioba  for  it  several  times  in  the  year,  which 
cogioba  is  to  pray  to  it,  to  please  it,  to  ask  and  know  of  the 
said  cemi  what  good  or  evil  is  to  happen,  and  to  beg  wealth 
of  it." 

In  such  descriptions  we  get  our  picture  of  zemiism,  a  reli- 
gion rising  above  the  animism  which  was  its  obvious  source, 
becoming  predominantly  anthropomorphic  in  its  representa- 
tions of  superhuman  beings,  yet  showing  no  signs  of  passing 
from  crude  fetish-worship  to  that  symbolic  use  of  images 
which  marks  the  higher  forms  of  idolatry.  The  ritual  was  ap- 
parently not  bloody  —  offerings  of  tobacco,  the  use  of  purges 
and  narcotics  inducing  vision  and  frenzy,  and  the  dramatic 
dances,  or  areitos,  which  marked  all  solemn  occasions  and  the 
great  seasons  of  life,  such  as  birth  and  marriage  and  death  — 
these  were  the  important  features.  Oblatio  sacrificiorum  per- 
tinet  ad  jus  naturale,  says  Las  Casas  (quoting  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas)  in  his  description  of  Haitian  rites;  and  to  the  law 
of  man's  nature  may  surely  be  ascribed  that  impulse  which 
caused  the  Antillean  to  make  his  offerings  to  Heaven  and  Earth 
and  to  the  powers  that  dwell  therein. 

Nor  was  he  forgetful  of  the  potencies  within  himself.  With 
his  nature-worship  was  a  closely  associated  ancestor-worship. 
When  they  can  no  longer  see  the  reflection  of  a  person  in  the 
pupil  of  the  eye,  the  soul  is  fled,  say  the  Arawak  —  fled  to 
become  a  zemi.  The  early  writers  all  dwell  upon  this  belief 
in  the  potency  and  propinquity  of  the  souls  of  the  departed. 
They  are  shut  up  by  day,  but  walk  abroad  by  night,  says 
Fray  Ramon;  and  sometimes  they  return  to  their  kinsmen  in 


THE  ANTILLES  27 

the  form  of  Incubi:  "thus  it  is  they  know  them:  they  feel  their 
belly,  and  if  they  cannot  find  their  navel,  they  say  they  are 
dead;  for  they  say  the  dead  have  no  navel."  The  navel  is  the 
symbol  of  birth  and  of  the  attachment  of  the  body  to  its  life; 
hence  the  dead,  though  they  may  possess  all  other  bodily 
members,  lack  this;  and  the  Indians  have,  says  Pane,  one 
name  for  the  soul  in  the  living  body  and  another  for  the  soul  of 
the  departed. 

The  bones  of  the  dead,  especially  of  caciques  and  great  men, 
enclosed  sometimes  in  baskets,  sometimes  in  plaited  cotton 
images,  were  regarded  as  powerful  fetishes;  and  from  what  is 
told  us  of  the  funeral  ceremonies  certain  beliefs  may  be  in- 
ferred. The  statement  by  Columbus,  already  quoted,  closes 
with  an  account  of  some  such  rites:  "When  these  Indians  die, 
they  have  several  ways  of  performing  their  obsequies,  but 
the  manner  of  burying  their  caciques  is  thus:  they  open  and 
dry  him  at  the  fire,  that  he  may  keep  whole.  Of  others  they 
take  only  the  head,  others  they  bury  in  a  grot  or  den,  and  lay 
a  calabash  of  water  and  bread  on  his  head;  others  they  bum 
in  the  house  where  they  die,  and  when  they  are  at  the  last 
gasp,  they  suffer  them  not  to  die  but  strangle  them;  and  this 
is  done  to  caciques.  Others  are  turned  out  of  the  house,  and 
others  put  them  into  a  hammock,  which  is  their  bed,  laying 
bread  and  water  by  their  head,  never  returning  to  see  them 
any  more.  Some  that  are  dangerously  ill  are  carried  to  the 
cacique,  who  tells  them  whether  they  are  to  be  strangled  or 
not,  and  what  he  says  is  done.  I  have  taken  pains  to  find  out 
what  it  is  they  believe,  and  whether  they  know  what  becomes 
of  them  after  they  are  dead,"  and  the  answer  was  that  "they 
go  to  a  certain  vale,  which  every  great  cacique  supposes  to  be 
in  his  country,  where  they  affirm  they  find  their  parents  and 
all  their  predecessors,  and  that  they  eat,  have  women,  and 
give  themselves  up  to  pleasures  and  pastimes."  This  is  very 
much  the  belief  of  all  the  primitive  world,  but  it  has  one  in- 
teresting feature.  The  strangling  of  caciques  and  of  those 


28  LATIN-AMERICAN   MYTHOLOGY 

named  by  caciques  clearly  indicates  that  there  was  a  belief 
in  a  different  fate  for  men  who  die  by  nature  and  men  who 
die  with  the  breath  of  life  not  yet  exhausted;  quite  likely  it 
was  some  Valhalla  reserved  for  the  brave,  such  as  the  Norse- 
man found  who  escaped  the  "straw  death,"  or  the  Aztec 
warrior  whom  Tonatiuh  snatched  up  into  the  mansions  of 
the  Sun. 

IV.  TAINO  MYTHS11 

"I  ordered,"  says  Columbus,  "one  Friar  Ramon,  who  un- 
derstood their  language,  to  set  down  all  their  language  and 
antiquities";  and  it  is  to  this  Fray  Ramon  Pane,  "a  poor 
anchorite  of  the  order  of  St.  Jerome,"  as  he  tells  us,  that 
thanks  are  due  for  most  of  what  is  preserved  of  Tamo  myth- 
ology. The  myths  which  he  gathered  are  from  the  island  of 
Haiti,  or  Hispaniola,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  they  repre- 
sent cycles  of  tales  shared  by  all  the  Tamo  peoples.  They  be- 
lieve, says  the  friar,  in  an  invisible  and  immortal  Being,  like 
Heaven,  and  they  speak  of  the  mother  of  this  heaven-son, 
who  was  called,  among  other  names,  Atabei,  "the  First-in- 
Existence."  "They  also  know  whence  they  came,  the  origin 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  how  the  sea  was  made,  and  whither  the 
dead  go." 

The  earliest  Indians  appeared,  according  to  the  legend, 
from  two  caverns  of  a  certain  mountain  of  Hispaniola  - 
"most  of  the  people  that  first  inhabited  the  island  came  out  of 
Cacibagiagua,"  while  the  others  emerged  from  Amaiauva  (it 
is  altogether  likely  that  the  two  caves  represent  two  races  or 
tribal  stocks).  Before  the  people  came  forth,  a  watchman, 
Marocael,  guarded  the  entrances  by  night;  but,  once  delay- 
ing his  return  into  the  caves  until  after  dawn,  the  sun  trans- 
formed him  into  a  stone;  while  others,  going  a-fishing,  were 
also  caught  by  the  sun  and  were  changed  into  trees.  As  for 
the  sun  and  moon,  they,  too,  came  from  a  certain  grotto, 
called  Giovava,  to  which,  says  Fray  Ramon,  the  Indians  paid 


PLATE   III 

Antillean  stone  ring,  of  the  ovate  type,  with 
carved  panels.  Stone  rings,  or  "collars,"  form  one 
of  the  types  of  symbolic  stones  from  this  region  the 
significance  of  which  has  so  profoundly  puzzled 
archaeologists.  Reference  to  their  possible  meaning 
will  be  found  on  page  24  and  in  the  note  (page  350) 
there  referred  to.  The  specimen  here  figured  is  in 
the  Museum  of  the  American  Indian,  New  York. 
Joyce  (Central  American  Archaeology,  pages  189-91) 
interprets  the  design  as  a  human  figure.  The  disks 
on  either  side  of  the  head  are  ear-plugs;  arms  and 
hands  may  be  seen  supporting  them;  the  pit  be- 
tween the  elbows  is  the  umbilicus;  while  the  legs 
are  represented  by  the  upper  segments  of  the  dec- 
orated panels  exterior  to  the  disks. 


THE  ANTILLES  29 

great  veneration,  having  it  all  painted  "without  any  figure, 
but  with  leaves  and  the  like";  and  keeping  in  it  two  stone 
zemis  which  looked  "as  if  they  sweated ";  to  these  they  went 
when  they  wanted  rain. 

The  story  of  the  origin  of  the  sea  is  a  little  more  complex. 
In  introducing  the  tale,  Fray  Ramon  says:  "I,  writing  in 
haste  and  not  having  paper  enough,  could  not  place  every- 
thing rightly.  .  .  .  Let  us  now  return  to  what  we  should  have 
said  first,  that  is,  their  opinion  concerning  the  origin  and  be- 
ginning of  the  sea."  There  was  a  certain  man,  Giaia,  whose 
son,  Giaiael  ("Giaia's  son"),  undertook  to  kill  his  father,  but 
was  himself  slain  by  the  parent,  who  put  the  bones  into  a 
calabash,  which  he  hung  in  the  top  of  his  house.  One  day  he 
took  the  calabash  down,  and  looking  into  it,  an  abundance  of 
fishes,  great  and  small,  came  forth,  since  into  these  the  bones 
had  changed.  Later  on,  while  Giaia  was  absent,  there  came  to 
his  house  four  sons,  born  at  a  birth  from  a  certain  woman, 
Itiba  Tahuvava,  who  was  cut  open  that  they  might  be  de- 
livered —  "the  first  that  they  cut  out  was  Caracaracol,  that  is, 
'Mangy.":  These  four  brothers  took  the  calabash  and  ate  of 
the  fish,  but  seeing  Giaia  returning,  in  their  haste  they  re- 
placed it  badly,  with  the  result  that  "there  ran  so  much  water 
from  it  as  overflowed  all  the  country,  and  with  it  came  out 
abundance  of  fish,  and  hence  they  believe  the  sea  had  its  origin." 
Fray  Ramon  goes  on  to  tell  how,  the  four  brothers  being  hungry, 
one  of  them  begged  cassaba  bread  of  a  certain  man,  but  was 
struck  by  him  with  tobacco.  Thereupon  his  shoulder  swelled 
up  painfully;  and  when  it  was  opened,  a  live  female  tortoise 
issued  forth  —  "so  they  built  their  house  and  bred  up  the 
tortoise." 

"I  understood  no  more  of  this  matter,  and  what  we  have 
writ  signifies  but  little, "  continues  the  friar;  yet  to  the  modern 
reader  the  tales  have  all  the  marks  of  a  primitive  cosmogony, 
a  cosmogony  having  many  analogues  in  similar  tales  from 
the  two  Americas.  The  notion  of  a  cave  or  caves  from  which 


30  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  parents  of  the  human  race  and  of  the  animal  kinds  issue 
to  people  the  world  is  ubiquitous  in  America;  so,  too,  is  the 
notion  of  an  age  of  transformations,  in  which  beings  were 
altered  from  their  first  forms.  Peter  Martyr,  who  tells  the 
same  stories  in  resume,  as  he  says,  of  Pane's  manuscript,  adds 
a  number  of  interesting  details;  as  that  after  the  metamor- 
phosis of  Marocael,  or  Machchael,  as  Martyr  calls  him,  the 
First  Race  were  refused  entrance  into  the  caves  when  the  sun 
rose  "because  they  sought  to  sin,"  and  so  were  transformed  — 
a  moral  element  which  recalls  similar  motifs  in  Pueblo  myths. 
But  perhaps  the  most  striking  analogies  are  with  the  cosmog- 
onies of  the  Algonquian  and  Iroquoian  stocks.  The  four 
Caracarols  (caracal,  "shell,"  plural  cacaracol,  is  the  evident 
derivation),  one  of  whom  was  called  "Mangy,"  recall  the 
Stone  Giants,  and  again  recall  the  twins  or  (as  in  a  Potawatomi 
version)  quadruplets  whose  birth  causes  their  mother's  death, 
while  the  tortoise  cut  from  the  shoulder  (Martyr  says  it  was 
a  woman  by  whom  the  brothers  successively  became  fathers 
of  sons  and  daughters)  is  at  least  suggestive  of  the  cosmo- 
gonic  turtle  of  North  American  myth.  In  the  flood-legend, 
the  idea  of  fishes  being  formed  from  bones  is  remotely  paralleled 
by  the  Eskimo  conception  of  the  creation  of  fishes  from  the 
finger-bones  of  the  daughter  of  Anguta;  and  Benzoni  tells 
how,  in  his  day,  the  Haitians  still  had  a  pumpkin  as  a  relic, 
"  saying  that  it  had  come  out  of  the  sea  with  all  the  fish  in  it." 
In  the  order  of  his  narrative  —  though  not,  apparently,  in 
the  order  in  which  he  deemed  the  events  ought  to  lie  —  Fray 
Ramon  follows  the  story  of  the  emergence  of  the  First  People 
from  caves  with  the  adventures  of  a  hero  whom  he  calls  Gua- 
gugiana,  but  whom  Peter  Martyr  terms  Vagoniona.  It  is 
easy  to  recognize  in  this  hero  an  example  of  the  demiurgic 
Trickster-Transformer  so  common  in  American  myth.  Like 
the  Trickster  elsewhere,  he  has  a  servant  or  comrade,  Gia- 
druvava,  and  the  first  story  that  Pane  tells  is  one  of  which  we 
would  fain  have  a  fuller  version,  for  even  the  fragmentary 


THE  ANTILLES  31 

sketch  of  it  is  full  of  poetic  suggestion.  Guagugiana,  it  seems, 
was  one  of  the  cave-dwellers  of  the  First  Race.  One  day  he 
sent  forth  his  servant  to  seek  a  certain  cleansing  herb,  but, 
as  Pane  has  it,  "the  sun  took  him  by  the  way,  and  he  became 
a  bird  that  sings  in  the  morning,  like  the  nightingale";  to  which 
Peter  Martyr  adds  that  "on  every  anniversary  of  his  trans- 
formation he  fills  the  night  air  with  songs,  bewailing  his  mis- 
fortunes and  imploring  his  master  to  come  to  his  help." 

In  this  tale,  slender  as  it  is,  there  is  an  element  of  unusual 
interest,  fortified  by  various  other  allusions  to  Antillean  be- 
liefs. It  would  appear  that  the  First  People,  the  cave-dwellers, 
were  of  the  nature  of  spirits  or  souls,  and  that  the  Sun  was  the 
true  Transformer,  whose  strength-giving  rays  gave  to  each, 
as  it  emerged  to  light,  the  form  which  it  was  to  keep.  The  dis- 
embodied soul  (opio)  haunts  the  night,  moreover,  as  if  night 
were  its  native  season;  in  the  day  it  is  powerless,  and  men 
have  no  fear  of  it.  Surely  it  is  a  beautiful  myth  which  makes  of 
the  night-bird's  song  a  longing  for  the  free  life  of  the  spirit,  or 
at  least  an  expression  of  the  feeling  of  kinship  with  the  spirit- 
world. 

The  tale  goes  on  to  tell  how  Guagugiana,  lamenting  his  lost 
comrade,  resolved  to  go  forth  from  the  cave  in  which  the  First 
People  dwelt.  Yet  he  went  not  alone,  for  he  called  to  the 
women:  "Leave  your  husbands!  Let  us  go  into  other  coun- 
tries, where  we  shall  get  jewels  enough!  Leave  your  children; 
we  will  come  again  for  them;  carry  only  herbs  with  you." 
The  women,  abandoning  all  save  their  nursing  children  (as 
Peter  Martyr  tells),  followed  Guagugiana  to  the  island  of 
Matenino,  and  there  he  left  them;  but  the  children  he  took 
away  and  abandoned  them  beside  a  brook  —  or  perhaps,  as 
Martyr  implies,  he  brought  them  back  and  left  them  on  the 
shore  of  the  sea  —  where,  starving,  they  cried,  "Toa,  toa," 
which  is  to  say,  "Milk,  milk!"  "And  they  thus  crying  and 
begging  of  the  earth,  saying,  'toa,  toa,'  like  one  that  very 
earnestly  begs  a  thing,  they  were  transformed  into  little  crea- 


32  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

tures  like  dwarfs,  and  called  tona,  because  of  their  begging  the 
earth."  Martyr's  more  prosaic  version  says  that  they  were 
transformed  into  frogs;  but  both  authorities  agree  that  this  is 
how  the  men  came  to  be  left  without  wives;  and  doubtless  it 
is  this  myth  from  which  Columbus  gained  at  least  a  part  of 
his  notion  of  the  Amazon-like  women  "who  dwell  alone  in  the 
island  of  Matenino." 

Other  episodes  in  the  career  of  Guagugiana,  which  Pane 
recounts  in  a  confused  way,  are  his  going  to  sea  with  a  com- 
panion whom  he  tricked  into  looking  for  precious  shells  and 
then  threw  overboard;  his  finding  of  a  woman  of  the  sea  who 
taught  him  a  cure  for  the  pox;  this  woman's  name  was  Gua- 
bonito,  and  she  taught  him  the  use  of  amulets  and  of  orna- 
ments of  white  stone  and  of  gold.  Peter  Martyr's  variant 
says:  "He  is  supposed  to  go  to  meet  a  beautiful  woman,  per- 
ceived in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  from  whom  are  obtained  the 
white  shells  called  by  the  natives  cibas,  and  other  shells  of  a 
yellowish  colour  called  guianos,  of  both  of  which  they  make 
necklaces;  the  caciques,  in  our  own  time,  regard  these  trinkets 
as  sacred."  In  this  there  is  a  striking  suggestion  of  the  Pueblo 
myths  of  the  White-Shell  Woman  of  the  East  and  of  the  sea- 
dwelling  Guardian  of  the  yellow  shells  of  the  West;  and  it  is 
quite  to  be  inferred  that  the  regard  in  which  the  caciques 
held  these  objects  was  due  to  a  ritual  and  magical  significance 
analogous  to  that  which  we  know  in  the  Pueblos. 

V.   THE  AREITOS 

"The  Spaniards,"  says  Peter  Martyr,12  "lived  for  some 
time  in  Hispaniola  without  suspecting  that  the  islanders  wor- 
shipped anything  else  than  the  stars,  or  that  they  had  any 
kind  of  religion,  .  .  .  but  after  mingling  with  them  for  some 
years  .  .  .  many  of  the  Spaniards  began  to  notice  among  them 
divers  ceremonies  and  rites."  These  ceremonies  are  called 
areitos,  or  areytos,  by  the  Spanish  writers;  and  from  the  early 


THE  ANTILLES  s  33 

descriptions  it  is  obvious  that  they  were  rites  of  the  typical 
American  kind,  dramatic  dances  or  mysteries  performed  in 
the  great  crises  of  national  and  personal  life,  or  in  the  changes 
and  climaxes  of  that  course  of  the  seasons,  which  is  the  life  of 
Nature.  As  in  the  case  of  myths,  so  in  the  case  of  rites,  it  is 
chiefly  those  of  Haiti  which  are  described  for  us;  but  there  is 
little  reason  to  doubt  that  these  are  typical  of  all  the  Greater 
Antilles. 

Birth,  marriage,  death,  going  to  war,  curing  the  sick,  ini- 
tiation, and  puberty  rites  all  seem  to  have  had  their  appro- 
priate ceremonies.  Songs  played  an  important  part  in  these 
ceremonies;  indeed,  the  word  areito  is  frequently  restricted  to 
funeral  chants,  or  elegies  in  praise  of  heroes.  But  the  chief  rite 
known  to  us,  and,  we  may  feel  assured,  the  chief  rite  of  the 
whole  Tamo  culture,  was  the  ceremony  in  honour  of  the 
Earth  Goddess.  This  ceremony,  as  celebrated  by  the  Haitians, 
is  described  by  both  Benzoni  and  Gomara  with  some  detail. 
Gomara's  account  is  as  follows : 13 

"When  the  cacique  celebrated  the  festival  in  honour  of  his 
principal  idol,  all  the  people  attended  the  function.  They 
decorated  the  idol  very  elaborately;  the  priests  arranged  them- 
selves like  a  choir  about  the  king,  and  the  cacique  sat  at  the 
entrance  of  the  temple  with  a  drum  at  his  side.  The  men  came 
painted  black,  red,  blue,  and  other  colours  or  covered  with 
branches  and  garlands  of  flowers,  or  feathers  and  shells,  wear- 
ing shell  bracelets  and  little  shells  on  their  arms  and  rattles 
on  their  feet.  The  women  also  came  with  similar  rattles,  but 
naked,  if  they  were  maids,  and  not  painted;  if  married,  wear- 
ing only  breechcloths.  They  approached  dancing,  and  sing- 
ing to  the  sound  of  the  shells,  and  as  they  approached  the 
cacique  he  saluted  them  with  a  drum.  Having  entered  the 
temple,  they  vomited,  putting  a  small  stick  into  their  throat, 
in  order  to  show  the  idol  that  they  had  nothing  evil  in  their 
stomach.  They  seated  themselves  like  tailors  and  prayed  with 
a  low  voice.  Then  there  approached  many  women  bearing 


34  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

baskets  and  cakes  on  their  heads  and  many  roses,  flowers,  and 
fragrant  herbs.  They  formed  a  circle  as  they  prayed  and 
began  to  chant  something  like  an  old  ballad  in  praise  of  the 
god.  All  rose  to  respond  at  the  close  of  the  ballad;  they  changed 
their  tone  and  sang  another  song  in  praise  of  the  cacique, 
after  which  they  offered  the  bread  to  the  idol,  kneeling.  The 
priests  took  the  gift,  blessed,  and  divided  it;  and  so  the  feast 
ended,  but  the  recipients  of  the  bread  preserved  it  all  the  year 
and  held  that  house  unfortunate  and  liable  to  many  dangers 
which  was  without  it." 

In  this  rite  it  is  easy  to  recognize  a  festival  in  honour  of  a 
divinity  of  fertility,  probably  a  corn  deity,  or  perhaps  a  god- 
dess who  is  the  mother  of  corn  spirits.  Benzoni  says  of  the 
Haitians  that  "they  worshipped  two  wooden  figures  as  the 
gods  of  abundance,  and  at  some  periods  of  the  year  many 
Indians  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  them."  These  may  be  the 
two  zemis  of  the  painted  grotto  of  the  Sun  and  the  Moon, 
mentioned  by  Ramon  Pane  and  Peter  Martyr,  for  the  latter 
says  that  "they  go  on  pilgrimages  to  that  cavern  just  as  we  go 
to  Rome";  but  it  is  certain  that  they  were  associated  with 
agriculture,  since  it  was  to  them  that  prayers  were  made  for 
rain  and  fruitfulness.  In  an  interesting  old  picture,  printed 
in  Picart,  the  rite  of  the  Earth  Goddess  is  represented,  much 
as  described  by  Gomara  and  Benzoni.  The  goddess  herself  is 
shown  with  several  heads,  each  that  of  a  different  animal, 
and  near  her  are  two  lesser  idols  of  grotesque  form.  It  is  possi- 
ble that  the  Earth  was  conceived  as  the  mother  of  all  life, 
animal  as  well  as  vegetable,  and  that  her  two  attendants 
represented  yucca  and  maize,  the  two  principal  food  plants  of 
the  Antilleans.  Some  authorities  regard  the  chief  of  the  Tai'no 
gods,  the  son  of  the  great  First-in-Being,  as  a  yucca  spirit; 
and,  indeed,  the  name  of  the  plant  appears  to  enter  into  such 
forms  as  locauna,  Jocakuvague,  Yocahuguama.  Yet  it  is 
little  likely  that  we  shall  ever  have  certainty  on  this  point, 
for  of  the  poems  which,  Peter  Martyr  tells  us,  the  sons  of 


PLATE  IV 

Dance,  or  Areito,  of  the  Haitian  Indians  in  honor 
of  the  Earth  Goddess.  The  ceremony  is  described 
by  both  Benzoni  and  Gomara,  the  latter's  descrip- 
tion being  quoted  in  this  volume,  pages  33-34. 
After  the  drawing  in  Picart,  The  Religious  Cere- 
monies and  Customs  of  the  Several  Nations  of  the 
known  World,  London,  1731-37,  Plate  No.  78. 


THE   ANTILLES  35 

chiefs  sang  to  the  people  on  feast  days,  in  the  form  of  sacred 
chants,  none  are  preserved  to  us. 

That  the  Taino  had,  besides  these  great  public  festivals, 
rites  for  the  individual  also  is  abundantly  witnessed  in  the 
old  books.  Like  all  American  Indians,  they  were  mystics  and 
vision-seekers.  Benzoni  says  that  when  the  doctors  wished 
to  cure  a  man  who  was  ill,  he  was  lulled  into  unconsciousness 
by  tobacco  smoke,  and  "on  returning  to  his  senses  he  told  a 
thousand  stories  of  his  having  been  at  the  council  of  the 
gods  and  other  high  visions"  —  a  description  which  recalls  im 
Thurn's  account  of  his  own  experiences  in  the  hands  of  an 
Arawak  peaiman.14  Something  analogous  to  the  individual 
totem,  or  "medicine,"  of  other  Indians  was  certainly  known 
to  them.  "The  islanders,"  says  Peter  Martyr,  "pay  homage 
to  numerous  zemes,  each  person  having  his  own.  Some  are 
made  of  wood,  because  it  is  amongst  the  trees  and  in  the  dark- 
ness of  night  they  have  received  the  message  of  the  gods. 
Others,  who  have  heard  the  voice  among  the  rocks,  make  their 
zemes  of  stone;  while  others,  who  heard  their  revelation  while 
they  were  cultivating  their  ages — the  kind  of  cereal  I  have 
already  mentioned  [sweet  potato,  or  yam], — make  theirs  of 
roots."  Martyr  goes  on  to  describe  trances,  induced,  he 
thinks,  by  tobacco,  in  which  the  chiefs  seek  prophetic  revela- 
tions, stammered  out  in  incoherent  words.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  early  stories  tells  of  such  a  prophecy  re- 
ceived from  Yocahuguama,  the  yucca  spirit.  Doubtless  the 
earliest  version  of  the  tale  is  that  of  Ramon  Pane:15 

"That  great  lord  who,  they  say,  is  in  heaven  ...  is  this 
Cazziva  [cassava],  who  kept  a  sort  of  abstinence  here,  which 
all  of  them  generally  perform;  for  they  shut  themselves  up  six 
or  seven  days,  without  taking  any  sustenance  but  the  juice 
of  herbs,  with  which  they  also  wash  themselves.  After  this 
time  they  begin  to  eat  something  that  is  nourishing.  During 
the  time  they  have  been  without  eating,  weakness  makes 
them  say  they  have  seen  something  they  earnestly  desired, 


36  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

for  they  all  perform  that  abstinence  in  honour  of  the  cemies  to 
know  whether  they  shall  obtain  victory  over  their  enemies,  or 
to  acquire  wealth  or  any  other  thing  they  desire.  They  say  this 
cacique  affirmed  he  spoke  with  Giocauvaghama,  who  told  him 
that  whosoever  survived  him  would  not  long  enjoy  his  power, 
because  they  should  see  a  people  clad,  in  their  country,  who 
would  rule  over  and  kill  them,  and  they  should  die  for  hunger. 
They  thought  at  first  these  should  be  the  cannibals,  but  after- 
wards considering  that  they  only  plundered  and  fled,  they 
believed  it  was  some  other  people  the  cemi  spoke  of;  and  now 
they  believe  it  is  the  admiral  and  those  that  came  with  him." 
This  is  the  first  of  those  stories  of  clothed  and  bearded  strangers 
(the  beard  is  added  in  some  versions),  coming  to  overthrow 
the  gods  and  kingdoms  of  the  Indians,  which  were  encountered 
in  various  portions  of  the  New  World.  So  much  importance  was 
attached  to  it,  says  Gomara,  that  a  song  was  formed  com- 
memorating it,  sung  as  an  areito  in  a  ceremonial  dance. 

VI.   CARIB   LORE16 

Not  only  Columbus,  but  other  early  writers  praised  the 
peacefully  happy  and  amiably  virtuous  character  of  the  In- 
dians of  the  Bahamas  and  the  Greater  Antilles;  and  though 
this  description  may  have  been  in  some  degree  coloured  by 
their  ideal  of  what  dwellers  in  the  Fortunate  Isles  ought  to  be, 
there  is  yet  little  in  the  old  accounts  of  these  Indians  to  con- 
travene their  good  report.  With  small  question,  however,  this 
same  picture  served  only  to  intensify  the  grimness  of  its  com- 
panion portrait,  for  the  folk  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  the  "Carib- 
bee  Islands"  of  seamen's  romance,  were  painted  as  hard  and 
mirthless  savages,  murderers  and  marauders,  ferocious  in  war, 
and  abhorrent  cannibals  —  altogether  such  as  would  be  dra- 
matically appropriate  as  the  aborigines  of  islands  that  were 
to  become  the  paradise  of  pirates. 

On  his  second  voyage  Columbus  encountered  men  of  this 


THE  ANTILLES  37 

race,  finding  them  treacherous  and  fierce.  Unlike  the  Tai'no, 
the  men  wore  their  hair  long  and  they  painted  themselves 
with  strange  devices;  their  beards  were  plucked  out,  and 
their  eyes  and  eyebrows  were  stained  to  give  them  a  terrible 
appearance  —  at  least  so  thought  Chanca,  who  describes 
them  for  us.  The  women  —  that  is,  the  true  Carib  women, 
not  the  captives,  of  whom  they  had  many  —  were  as  savage 
fighters  as  the  men;  and  the  Spaniards  distinguished  them 
from  the  captive  Tai'no  women  by  the  leg-bands,  fastened 
below  the  knee  and  above  the  ankle,  which  caused  the  leg- 
muscles  to  swell  out  —  a  trait  recorded  by  im  Thurn  of  the 
true  Carib  of  Guiana. 

There  is  small  question  that  these  people  came  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Orinoco  in  the  southern  continent  just  as  the  an- 
cestors of  the  Tai'no  had  doubtless  come  before  them;  and 
even  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  they  were  invading  the 
Greater  Antilles  and  had  secured  a  foothold  in  Porto  Rico. 
Nevertheless,  they  had  already  been  in  the  lesser  islands  for  a 
period  sufficiently  long  to  differentiate  them,  in  a  degree,  from 
their  continental  congeners  and  to  develop  among  them  a 
distinctly  Antillean  type  of  Carib  culture,  related  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  continent  they  had  left,  on  the  other  to  the  islands 
they  had  conquered.  Doubtless  the  fundamental  modification 
was  due  not  so  much  to  the  change  of  habitat  or  to  the  differ- 
ence between  alluvial  and  insular  life  as  to  the  fact  —  repeated 
from  Columbus  onward  —  that  they  spared  and  married  with 
the  women  of  the  dispossessed  tribes  and  so  fell  heirs  to  many 
of  their  arts  and  ideas. 

Of  all  Carib  customs,  after  their  cannibalism  (the  word 
"cannibal"  is  a  variant  of  "Carib"),  the  most  striking  is  the 
couvade  —  the  Custom  whereby  the  husband  and  father,  at 
the  birth  of  a  child,  takes  to  his  bed,  or  rather  hammock,  as 
if  he  were  suffering  the  pangs  of  labour.  For  forty  days  he 
remains  in  retirement,  fasting  or  on  meagre  diet;  and  at  the 
end  of  this  period  a  feast  is  held  at  which  the  invited  guests 


38  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

lacerate  the  skin  of  the  patient  with  their  nails  and  wash  the 
wounds  with  a  solution  of  red  pepper,  he  bearing  his  pain 
heroically.  Even  then  his  trials  are  not  at  an  end;  for  six 
moons  more  he  must  be  careful  of  his  food  —  should  he  eat 
turtle,  the  child  will  become  deaf,  and  so  of  other  creatures, 
bird  and  fish,  —  such  being  Pere  du  Tertre's  description  of 
this  rite,  still  in  vogue  on  the  southern  continent. 

Other  Carib  festivals  are  mentioned  by  Davies.  A  cere- 
mony attended  a  council  of  war,  the  killing  of  an  enemy,  and 
the  return  from  war;  the  launching  of  a  canoe,  the  building  of 
a  house,  and  the  making  of  a  garden;  the  birth  of  a  child  and 
the  cutting  of  its  hair;  adolescence  and  participation  in  the 
first  war-party;  the  death  of  parents,  husband,  or  wife.  They 
had,  of  course,  their  doctors  or  medicine-men  —  the  •peaimen 
of  the  continent,  apparently  called  boii  by  the  islanders,  a 
name  which  is  surely  a  variant  of  the  Tai'no  buhuitihu  and 
doubtless  was  adopted  from  the  latter;  especially  as  Maboya 
("the  Great  Boye"  or  "Great  Snake")  is  a  name  recorded  for 
the  tutelary  power  of  these  boii,  or  "snakes."  Maboya,  or 
Mapoia,  is  the  god  who  sends  the  hurricane;  and  here  we  have 
an  interesting  point  of  contact  with  the  mythology  of  the 
great  isthmus,  since  Hurakan,  the  hurricane,  is  the  Mayan 
storm-god.  Du  Tertre  says  that  [there  were  many  Maboyas; 
and  it  may  be  that  the  term  is  the  insular  equivalent  for 
"Kenaima,"  by  which  the  mainland  Carib  designate  a  member 
of  the  class  of  death-bringing  powers. 

Good  spirits  were  also  recognized.  The  names  Akambou 
and  Yris  are  found  for  the  highest  of  all,  and  the  name  Chemin 
—  doubtless  related  to  zemi  —  is  applied  to  the  sky-god.  It 
may  be  that  the  island  Carib  possessed  a  whole  pantheon  of 
celestial  deities,  or  perhaps  the  name  for  the  Great  Spirit 
varied  from  island  to  island,  as  similar  names  vary  among  the 
related  tribes  of  Guiana. 

Fragments  of  the  legends  of  the  island  Carib  are  preserved. 
Louquo,  the  first  man,  came  down  from  the  sky;  other  men 


THE  ANTILLES  39 

were  born  from  his  body;  and  after  his  death  he  ascended  into 
the  heavens.  The  sky  itself  is  eternal;  the  earth,  at  first  soft, 
was  hardened  by  the  sun's  rays.  The  First  Race  of  men  were 
nearly  exterminated  by  a  deluge,  from  which  a  lucky  few 
escaped  in  a  canoe.  After  death  the  soul  of  the  valiant  Carib 
ascends  to  heaven;  the  stars  are  Carib  souls.  All  these  are 
beliefs  which  we  need  not  ascribe  to  Old  World  suggestion, 
for  they  are  found  far  and  wide  in  America;  and  equally  native 
must  be  the  Carib  notion  that  each  man  has  three  souls  —  one 
in  his  heart,  one  in  his  head,  and  one  in  his  shoulders  —  though 
it  is  only  the  heart-soul  that  ascends  to  paradise  at  death, 
while  the  other  two  wander  abroad  as  dangerous  and  evil 
powers.  The  islanders  possessed  also  a  legend  of  their  origin 
or  migration  from  among  the  Galibi,  their  continental  rela- 
tives, "Galibi"  being,  apparently,  yet  another  variant  of 
"Carib."  Their  ancestor,  Kalinago,  they  said,  wearying  of  life 
among  his  own  people,  embarked  for  the  conquest  of  new  lands, 
and  after  a  long  voyage  settled  in  Santo  Domingo  with  his 
kin,  where  his  numerous  children,  conspiring  against  him, 
gave  him  poison.  His  body  died,  but  his  soul  found  an  avatar 
in  a  terrible  fish,  Atraioman;  while  his  slayers,  pursued  by 
his  vengeance,  scattered  afar  among  all  the  isles.  Wherever 
they  went,  they  destroyed  the  men,  but  spared  the  women; 
and  they  placed  the  heads  of  their  enemies  in  rocky  caves  that 
they  might  show  their  sons  and  their  sons'  sons  these  symbols 
of  the  valour  of  their  fathers.  According  to  some  tales  all 
brave  Caribs  at  death  enter  a  paradise  where  they  forever 
wage  successful  war  against  the  Arawak,  while  cowards  are 
condemned  in  the  future  world  to  be  enslaved  to  Arawak 
masters. 

A  more  agreeable  picture  of  Carib  nature  is  suggested  by 
their  belief  in  Icheiri  —  a  kind  of  Lares  and  Penates  —  to 
whom  in  each  cabin  was  erected  an  altar  of  banana  leaves  or 
of  cane,  upon  which  were  placed  offerings  of  cassava  flour  and 
of  the  first  fruits  of  the  field,  these  Icheiri  being  conceived  as 


40  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

kindly  and  familiar  intermediaries  between  man  below  and 
the  distant  heaven  power  above.  There  were  also  spirits  that 
could  enter  into  a  man  to  lead  him  to  inspired  vision  —  "medi- 
cine" spirits,  or  tutelaries.  The  god  Yris  seems  to  have  been 
of  this  character,  for  du  Tertre,  who  received  the  story  from  one 
of  the  missionaries  in  Santo  Domingo,  relates  that  Yris  en- 
tered into  a  certain  woman  and  transported  her  far  above  the 
sun,  where  she  saw  lands  of  a  marvellous  beauty  with  verdant 
mountains  from  which  gushed  springs  of  living  water;  and  the 
god  promised  her  that  after  her  death  she  should  come  thither 
to  dwell  with  him  forever.  The  savage  mystic,  too,  it  would 
appear,  has  her  visions  of  a  divine  spouse,  who  shall  one  day 
welcome  her  into  the  heaven  above  the  heavens. 


CHAPTER  II 
MEXICO 

I.  MIDDLE  AMERICA 

FROM  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  southern  continent  extends 
the  great  land  bridge  connecting  North  and  South 
America,  forming  a  region  which  might  properly  be  called 
Middle  America.  This  region  divides  naturally  into  several 
sections.  To  the  north  is  the  body  of  Mexico,  its  coastal  lands 
mounting  abruptly  on  the  western  side,  but  rising  more  grad- 
ually on  the  eastern  littoral  toward  the  broad  central  plateau, 
the  shape  of  which  —  roughly  triangular,  with  its  apex  in  the 
lofty  mountains  of  the  south  —  conforms  to  that  of  the  whole 
land  north  of  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec.  Next  to  this  is  the 
low-lying  peninsular  region  of  Yucatan,  ascending  into  moun- 
tains toward  the  Pacific,  and  forming  a  great  broadening  of  the 
southward  tapering  land.  A  second  bulge  is  Central  America, 
lying  between  the  Gulf  of  Honduras  and  the  Mosquito  Gulf, 
and  terminating  in  the  thin  Isthmus  forming  an  arc  about  the 
Bay  of  Panama. 

The  physiography  of  the  region  is  an  index  to  its  pre- 
Columbian  ethnography.1  The  northern  portion,  including 
Lower  California  and,  roughly,  the  mainlands  in  its  latitudes, 
was  a  region  of  wild  tribes,  the  best  of  them  much  inferior  in 
culture  to  the  Pueblo  Indians  on  the  Gila  and  the  upper  Rio 
Grande,  and  the  lowest  as  destitute  of  arts  as  any  in  America. 
Yuman  and  Waicurian  tribes  in  Lower  California;  Seri  on  the 
Island  of  Tiburon  and  the  neighbouring  mainland;  Piman 
in  the  north  central  and  western  mainlands;  Apache  in  the 
desert-like  lands  south  of  the  Rio  Grande;  and  Tamaulipecan 


42  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

on  the  east,  coasting  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  —  these  are  the 
principal  groups  of  this  region,  peoples  whose  ideas  and  myths 
differ  little  from  those  of  their  kindred  groups  of  the  arid 
South-west  of  North  America.  The  Piman  group,  however, 
possesses  a  special  interest  in  that  it  forms  a  possible  connexion 
between  the  Shoshonean  to  the  north  and  the  Nahuatlan 
nations  of  the  Aztec  world.  Such  peoples  as  the  Papago, 
Yaqui,  Tarahumare,  and  Tepehuane  are  the  wilder  cousins  of 
the  Nahua,  while  the  Tepecano,  Huichol,  and  Cora  tribes, 
just  to  the  south,  distinctly  show  Aztec  acculturation.  In 
general,  the  Mexican  tribes  north  of  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  be- 
long, in  habit  and  thought,  with  the  groups  of  the  South- West 
of  the  northern  continent;  ethnically,  Middle  America  falls 
south  of  the  Tropic. 

Below  this  line,  extending  as  far  as  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuan- 
tepec,  is  the  region  dominated  by  the  empire  of  the  Aztec, 
marked  by  the  civilization  which  bears  their  name.2  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  although  at  the  time  of  the  culmination  of 
their  power  this  whole  region  was  politically  subordinated  to 
the  Aztec  (it  was  not  completely  conquered  by  them),  it  con- 
tained several  centres  of  culture,  each  in  degree  distinct.  To 
the  north,  about  the  Panuco,  were  the  Huastec,  a  branch  of 
the  Maya  stock;  while  immediately  south  of  them,  and  also 
on  the  Gulf  Coast,  were  the  Totonac,  possibly  of  Maya  kin- 
ship. The  central  highlands,  immediately  west  of  these  peo- 
ples, were  occupied  by  the  Otomi,  primitive  and  warlike  foes 
of  the  Aztec  emperors.  On  their  west,  in  turn,  the  Otomi  had 
a  common  frontier  with  Nahuatlan  tribes  —  Huichol,  Cora, 
and  others  —  forming  a  transitional  group  between  the  wild 
tribes  of  the  north  and  the  civilized  Nahua.  Quite  surrounded 
by  Nahuatlan  and  Otomian  tribes  was  the  Tarascan  stock  of 
Michoacan,  a  group  of  peoples  whose  culture  certainly  ante- 
dates that  of  the  Nahua,  of  whom,  indeed,  they  may  have  been 
the  teachers.  Still  to  the  south — their  territories  nearly  conter- 
minous with  the  state  of  Oaxaca  —  were  the  Zapotecan  peoples, 


MEXICO  43 

chief  among  them  the  Zapotec  and  Mixtec,  whose  civilization 
ranks  with  those  of  Nahua  and  Maya  in  individual  quality, 
while  in  native  vitality  it  has  proved  stronger  than  either. 

The  Zoquean  tribes  (Mixe,  Zoque,  and  others),  back  from 
the  Gulf  of  Tehuantepec,  form  a  transition  to  the  next  great 
culture  centre,  that  of  the  Maya  nations.  The  territories  of 
this  most  remarkable  of  all  American  civilizations  included 
the  whole  of  Yucatan,  the  greater  portions  of  Tabasco,  Chiapas, 
and  Guatemala,  and  the  lands  bordering  on  both  sides  of  the 
Gulf  of  Honduras.  Thus  the  Mayan  regions  dominate  the 
strategy  of  the  Americas,  since  they  not  only  control  the  junc- 
ture of  the  continents,  but,  stretching  out  toward  the  Greater 
Antilles,  command  the  passage  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  Caribbean  Sea.  It  is  easily  conceivable  that,  had  a  free 
maritime  commerce  grown  up,  the  Maya  might  have  become, 
not  merely  the  Greeks,  but  the  Romans,  of  the  New  World. 

Central  America,  occupied  by  no  less  than  a  dozen  distinct 
linguistic  stocks,  forms  a  fourth  cultural  district.  Its  peoples 
show  not  only  the  influences  of  the  Maya  and  Nahua  to  the 
north  (a  tribe  of  the  Nahuatlan  stock  had  penetrated  as  far 
south  as  Lake  Nicaragua),  but  also  of  the  Chibchan  civiliza- 
tion of  the  southern  continent,  dominant  in  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  extending  beyond  Costa  Rica  up  into  Nicaragua. 
In  addition,  there  is  more  than  a  suggestion  of  influence  from 
the  Antilles  and  from  the  sea-faring  Carib.  Here,  we  can  truly 
say,  is  the  meeting-place  of  the  continents. 

The  nodes  of  interest  in  the  culture  and  history  of  Middle 
America  are  the  Aztec  and  Maya  civilizations,  which  are 
justly  regarded  as  marking  the  highest  attainment  of  native 
Americans.3  Neither  Aztec  nor  Maya  could  vie  with  the  Peru- 
vian peoples  in  the  engineering  and  political  skill  which  made 
the  empire  of  the  Incas  such  a  marvel  of  organization;  but  in 
the  general  level  of  the  arts,  in  the  intricacy  of  their  science, 
and  above  all  in  the  possession  of  systems  of  hieroglyphic 
writing  and  of  monumental  records  the  Middle  Americans 


44  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

had  touched  a  level  properly  comparable  with  the  earliest 
civilizations  of  the  Old  World,  nor  can  theirs  have  been  vastly 
later  than  Old  World  culture  in  origin. 

In  a  number  of  particulars  the  civilizations  of  the  Middle 
and  South  American  centres  show  curious  parallels.  In  each 
case  we  are  in  the  presence  of  an  aggressively  imperial  high- 
land (Aztec,  Inca)  and  of  a  decadent  lowland  (Maya,  Yunca) 
culture.  In  each  case  the  lowland  culture  is  the  more  advanced 
aesthetically  and  apparently  of  longer  history.  Both  highland 
powers  clearly  depend  upon  remote  highland  predecessors  for 
their  own  culture  (Aztec  harks  back  to  Toltec,  Inca  to  Tia- 
huanaco);  and  in  both  regions  it  is  a  pretty  problem  for  the 
archaeologist  to  determine  whether  this  more  remote  high- 
land civilization  is  ancestrally  akin  to  the  lowland.  Again,  in 
both  the  apogee  of  monument  building  and  of  the  arts  seems 
to  have  passed  when  the  Spaniards  arrived;  indeed,  empire 
itself  was  weakening.  The  Aztec  and  the  Inca  tribes  (perhaps 
the  most  striking  parallel  of  all)  emerged  from  obscurity  about 
the  same  time  to  proceed  on  the  road  to  empire,  for  the  tradi- 
tional Aztec  departure  from  Aztlan  and  the  Inca  departure 
from  Tampu  Tocco  alike  occurred  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
1 200  A.  D.  Finally,  it  was  Ahuitzotl,'  the  predecessor  of 
Montezuma  II,  who  brought  Aztec  power  to  its  zenith,  and  it 
was  Huayna  Capac,  the  father  of  Atahualpa,  who  gave  Inca 
empire  its  greatest  extent;  while  both  the  Aztec  empire  under 
Montezuma,  which  fell  to  Cortez  in  1519,  and  the  Inca  empire 
under  Atahualpa,  conquered  by  Pizarro  in  1524,  were  in- 
ternally weakening  at  the  time.  But  the  crowning  misfortune 
common  to  the  two  empires  was  the  possession  of  gold,  mad- 
dening the  eyes  of  the  conquistador es. 

II.  CONQUISTADORES 4 

In  1517  Hernandez  de  Cordova,  sailing  from  Cuba  for  the 
Bahamas,  was  driven  out  of  his  course  by  adverse  gales; 


MEXICO  45 

Yucatan  was  discovered;  and  a  part  of  the  coast  of  the  Gulf 
of  Campeche  was  explored.  Battles  were  fought,  and  hard- 
ships were  endured  by  the  discoverers,  but  the  reports  of  a 
higher  civilization  which  they  brought  back  to  Cuba,  coupled 
with  specimens  of  curious  gold-work,  induced  the  governor 
of  the  island  to  equip  a  new  expedition  to  continue  the  ex- 
ploration. This  venture,  of  four  vessels  under  the  command  of 
Juan  de  Grijalva,  set  out  in  May,  1518,  and  following  the 
course  of  its  predecessor,  coasted  as  far  as  the  province  of 
Panuco,  visiting  the  Isla  de  los  Sacrificios  —  near  the  site  of 
the  future  Vera  Cruz  —  and  doing  profitable  trading  with 
some  of  the  vassals  of  the  Aztec  emperor.  A  caravel  which  he 
dispatched  to  Cuba  with  some  of  his  golden  profit  induced  the 
governor  to  undertake  a  larger  military  expedition  to  effect 
the  conquest  of  the  empire  discovered;  for  now  men  began  to 
realize  that  a  truly  imperial  realm  had  been  revealed.  This 
third  expedition  was  placed  under  the  command  of  Hernando 
Cortez;  it  sailed  from  Cuba  in  February,  1519,  and  landed  on/1 
the  island  of  Cozumel,  in  Maya  territory,  where  the  Spaniards! '} 
were  profoundly  impressed  at  finding  the  Cross  an  object  oft 
veneration.  The  course  was  resumed,  and  a  battle  was  fought 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  Tabasco;  but  Cortez  was  in 
search  of  richer  lands  and  so  moved  onward,  beyond  the  lands 
of  the  Maya,  until  on  Good  Friday,  April  21,  1519,  he  landed 
with  all  his  forces  on  the  site  of  Vera  Cruz.  The  two  years  of 
the  Conquest  followed  —  the  tale  of  which,  for  fantastic  and 
romantic  adventure,  for  egregious  heroism  and  veritable 
gluttony  of  bloodshed,  has  few  competitors  in  human  annals: 
its  climacterics  being  the  seizure  of  Montezuma  in  November, 
1519;  la  noche  triste,  July  i,  1520,  when  the  invaders  were 
driven  from  Tenochtitlan;  and,  finally,  the  defeat  and  capture 
of  Guatemotzin,  August  13,  1521. 

The  reader  of  the  tale  cannot  but  be  profoundly  moved  both 
by  what  the  Spaniards  found  and  by  what  they  did.  He  will 
be  moved  with  regret  at  the  wanton  destruction  of  so  much 


46  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

that  was  in  its  way  splendid  in  Aztec  civilization.  He  will  be 
moved  with  revulsion  and  wonder  that  such  a  civilization 
could  support  a  religion  which,  though  not  without  elements 
of  poetic  exaltation,  was  drugged  with  obscene  and  bloody 
rites ;  and  he  will  feel  only  a  shuddering  thankfulness  that  this 
faith  is  of  the  past.  But  when  he  turns  to  the  agents  of  its 
destruction  and  reads  their  chronicles,  furious  with  carnage, 
he  will  surely  say,  with  Clavigero,  that  "the  Spaniards  can- 
not but  appear  to  have  been  the  severest  instruments  fate 
ever  made  use  of  to  further  the  ends  of  Providence,"  and  amid 
conflicting  horrors  he  will  be  led  again  into  regretful  sym- 
pathy for  the  final  victims. 

An  apologist  for  human  nature  would  say  that  neither  con- 
quistador nor  papa  (as  the  Spaniards  named  the  Aztec  priest) 
was  quite  so  despicable  as  his  deeds,  that  both  were  moved  by 
a  faith  that  had  redeeming  traits.  Outwardly,  aesthetically, 
the  whole  scene  is  bizarre  and  devilish ;  inwardly,  it  is  not  with- 
out devotion  and  heroism.  Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo,  adven- 
turer not  only  with  Cortez,  but  with  Cordova  and  Grijalva 
before  him,  one  of  the  sturdiest  of  the  conquerors  and  destined 
to  be  their  foremost  chronicler,  records  for  us  one  unforget- 
table incident  which  presents  the  whole  inwardness  and 
outwardness  of  the  situation  —  gorgeous  cruelty  and  simple 
humanity  —  in  a  single  image.  It  was  four  days  after  the  army 
of  Cortez  had  entered  the  Mexican  capital;  and  after  having 
been  shown  the  wonders  of  the  populous  markets  of  Tenoch- 
titlan,  the  visitors  were  escorted,  at  their  own  request,  to  the 
platform  top  of  the  great  teocalli  overlooking  Tlatelolco,  the 
mart  of  Mexico.  From  the  platform  Montezuma  proudly 
pointed  to  the  quartered  city  below,  and  beyond  that  to  the 
gleaming  lake  and  the  glistening  villages  on  its  borders  —  all 
a  local  index  of  his  imperial  domains.  "We  counted  among 
us,"  says  the  chronicler,5  "soldiers  who  had  traversed  different 
parts  of  the  world:  Constantinople,  Italy,  Rome;  they  said 
that  they  had  seen  nowhere  a  place  so  well  aligned,  so  vast, 


PLATE  V 

Aztec  goddess,  probably  Coatlicue,  the  mother 
of  Huitzilopochtli,  an  earth  goddess  (see  page  74). 
The  statue  is  one  of  two  Aztec  monuments  (the 
other  being  the  "Calendar  Stone,"  Plate  XIV) 
discovered  under  the  pavement  of  the  principal 
plaza  of  Mexico  City  in  1790,  and  is  possibly  the 
very  image  which  Bernal  Diaz  mistook  for  "Huichi- 
lobos"  (see  pages  46-49,  and  Note  5).  The  goddess 
wears  the  serpent  apron,  and  carries  a  death's  head 
at  the  girdle;  her  own  head  is  formed  of  two  serpent 
heads,  facing,  rising  from  her  shoulders.  The  im- 
portance of  Coatlicue  in  Aztec  legend  is  evidenced 
by  the  story  of  the  embassy  sent  to  her  by  Mon- 
tezuma  I  (see  page  116).  After  an  engraving  in 
AnMM,  first  series,  Vol.  II. 


MEXICO  47 

ordered  with  such  art,  and  covered  with  so  many  people." 
Cortez  turned  to  Montezuma:  "You  are  a  great  lord,"  he 
said.  "You  have  shown  us  your  great  cities;  show  us  now 
your  gods." 

"He  invited  us  into  a  tower,"  continues  the  chronicler, 
"into  a  part  in  form  like  a  great  hall  where  were  two  altars 
covered  with  rich  woodwork.  Upon  the  altars  were  reared 
two  massive  forms,  like  giants  with  ponderous  bodies.  The 
first,  placed  at  the  right,  was,  they  say,  Huichilobos  [Huit- 
zilopochtli],  their  god  of  war.  His  countenance  was  very  large, 
the  eyes  huge  and  terrifying;  all  his  body,  including  the  head, 
was  covered  with  gems,  with  gold,  with  pearls  large  and  small, 
adherent  by  means  of  a  glue  made  from  farinaceous  roots. 
The  body  was  cinctured  with  great  serpents  fabricked  of  gold 
and  precious  stones;  in  one  hand  he  held  a  bow,  and  in  the 
other  arrows.  A  second  little  idol,  standing  beside  the  great 
divinity  like  a  page,  carried  for  him  a  short  spear  and  a  buckler 
rich  in  gold  and  gems.  From  the  neck  of  Huichilobos  hung 
masks  of  Indians  and  hearts  in  gold  or  in  silver  surmounted 
by  blue  stones.  Near  by  were  to  be  seen  burners  with  incense 
of  copal;  three  hearts  of  Indians  sacrificed  that  very  day 
burned  there,  continuing  with  the  incense  the  sacrifice  that 
had  just  taken  place.  The  walls  and  floor  of  this  sanctuary 
were  so  bathed  with  congealing  blood  that  they  exhaled  a 
horrid  odour. 

"Turning  our  gaze  to  the  left,  we  saw  there  another  great 
mass,  of  the  height  of  Huichilobos.  Its  face  resembled  the 
snout  of  a  bear,  and  its  shining  eyes  were  made  of  mirrors 
called  tezcatl  in  the  language  of  the  country;  its  body  was  cov- 
ered with  rich  gems,  in  like  manner  with  Huichilobos,  for 
they  are  called  brothers.  They  adore  Tezcatepuca  [Tezcatli- 
poca]  as  god  of  the  lower  worlds,  and  attribute  to  him  the 
care  of  the  souls  of  Mexicans.  His  body  was  bound  about  with 
little  devils  having  the  tails  of  snakes.  About  him  also  upon 
the  walls  there  was  such  a  crust  of  blood  and  the  floor  so 


48  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

soaked  with  it  that  not  the  butcheries  of  Castile  exhale  such 
a  stench.  There  was  to  be  seen,  moreover,  the  offering  of  five 
hearts  of  victims  sacrificed  that  day.  At  the  culminating  point 
of  the  temple  was  a  niche  of  woodwork,  richly  carved;  within 
it,  a  statue  representing  a  being  half  man,  half  crocodile,  en- 
riched with  jewels  and  partly  covered  by  a  mantle.  They 
said  that  this  idol  was  the  god  of  sowings  and  of  fruits;  the 
half  of  his  body  contained  all  the  grains  of  the  country.  I  do 
not  recall  the  name  of  this  divinity;  what  I  do  know  is  that 
here  also  all  was  soiled  with  blood,  wall  and  altar,  and  that  the 
stench  was  such  that  we  did  not  delay  to  go  forth  to  take  the 
air.  There  we  found  a  drum  of  immense  size;  when  struck  it 
gave  forth  a  lugubrious  sound,  such  as  an  infernal  instrument 
could  not  want.  It  could  be  heard  for  two  leagues  about,  and 
it  was  said  to  be  stretched  with  the  skins  of  gigantic  serpents. 

"Upon  the  terrace  were  to  be  seen  an  endless  number  of 
things  diabolical  in  appearance:  speaking  trumpets,  horns, 
knives,  many  hearts  of  Indians  burned  as  incense  to  idols; 
and  all  covered  with  blood  in  such  quantity  that  I  vowed  it  to 
malediction!  As  moreover,  everywhere  arose  the  odours  of  a 
charnel,  it  moved  us  strongly  to  depart  from  these  exhalations 
and  above  all  from  so  repulsive  a  sight. 

"It  was  then  that  our  general,  by  means  of  our  interpreter, 
said  to  Montezuma,  smiling:  'Sire,  I  cannot  understand  how 
being  so  great  a  prince  and  so  wise  as  you  are,  that  you  have 
not  perceived  in  your  reflections  that  your  idols  are  not  gods, 
but  evilly  named  demons.  That  Your  Majesty  may  recognize 
this  and  all  your  priests  be  convinced,  grant  me  the  grace  of 
finding  it  good  that  I  erect  a  Cross  upon  the  height  of  this 
tower,  and  that  in  the  same  part  of  the  sanctuary  where  are 
your  Huichilobos  and  Tezcatepuca,  we  construct  a  shrine  and 
elevate  the  image  of  Our  Lady;  and  you  will  see  the  fear  which 
she  will  inspire  in  these  idols,  of  which  you  are  the  dupes.' 
Montezuma  replied  partly  in  anger,  while  the  priests  made 
menacing  gestures:  'Sir  Malinche,  if  I  had  thought  that  you 


MEXICO  49 

could  offer  blasphemies,  such  as  you  have  just  done,  I  had 
not  shown  you  my  deities.  Our  gods  we  hold  to  be  good;  it  is 
they  who  give  us  health,  rains,  good  harvests,  storms,  victo- 
ries, and  all  that  we  desire.  We  ought  to  adore  them  and 
make  them  sacrifices.  What  I  beg  of  you  is  that  you  will  say 
not  a  word  more  that  is  not  in  their  honour.'  Our  general, 
having  heard  and  seeing  his  emotion,  thought  best  not  to  reply; 
so,  affecting  a  gay  air,  he  said :  '  It  is  already  the  hour  that  we 
and  Your  Majesty  must  part.'  To  which  Montezuma  an- 
swered, true,  but  as  for  him,  he  must  pray  and  make  sacrifice 
in  expiation  of  the  sin  he  had  committed  in  giving  us  access 
to  his  temple,  which  had  had  for  consequence  our  presenta- 
tion to  his  gods  and  the  want  of  respect  through  which  we  had 
rendered  ourselves  culpable,  blaspheming  against  them."  So 
the  Spaniards  departed,  leaving  Montezuma  to  his  expiatory 
prayers  and  no  doubt  bloody  sacrifices. 

III.  THE  AZTEC  PANTHEON6 

Within  the  precincts  of  the  temple-pyramid,  and  not  far 
from  it,  was  a  lesser  building  which  Bernal  Diaz  describes,  a 
house  of  idols,  diabolisms,  serpents,  tools  for  carving  the 
bodies  of  sacrificed  victims,  and  pots  and  kettles  to  cook  them 
for  the  cannibal  repasts  of  the  priests,  the  entrance  being 
formed  by  gaping  jaws  "  such  as  one  pictures  at  the  mouth  of 
Inferno,  showing  great  teeth  for  the  devouring  of  poor  souls." 
The  place  was  foul  with  blood  and  black  with  smoke,  "and  for 
my  part,"  says  Diaz,  "I  was  accustomed  to  call  it  'Hell.": 

It  is  indeed  doubtful  whether  the  human  imagination  has 
ever  elsewhere  conjured  up  such  soul-satisfying  devils  as  are 
the  gods  of  the  Aztec  pantheon.  Beside  them  Old  World 
demons  seem  prankishly  amiable  sprites:  the  Mediaeval 
imagination  at  best  (or  worst)  gives  us  but  a  somewhat  de- 
ranged barnyard,  while  even  Chinese  devils  modulate  into 
pleasantly  decorative  motifs.  But  the  Aztec  gods,  in  their 


50  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

formal  presentments,  and  seldom  less  in  their  material  char- 
acters, ugly,  ghastly,  foul,  afford  unalloyed  shudders  which 
time  cannot  still,  nor  custom  stale.  To  be  sure,  the  ensemble 
frequently  shows  a  vigour  of  design  which  suggests  decora- 
tion (though  the  decorative  spirit  is  never  sensitive,  as  it 
often  is  in  Maya  art);  but  this  suggestion  is  too  illusory  to 
abide:  it  passes  like  a  mist,  and  the  imagination  is  gripped  by 
the  raw  horror  of  the  Thing.  Aztec  religious  art  seems,  in  fact, 
to  move  in  a  more  primitively  realistic  atmosphere  than  that 
in  which  the  religious  art  of  other  peoples  has  come  to  simi- 
larly adept  expression;  it  shows  little  of  that  tendency - 
which  Yucatan  and  Peru  in  America,  as  well  as  the  ancient  and 
Oriental  nations,  had  all  attained  —  to  subordinate  the  idea  to 
the  expressional  form,  and  to  soften  even  the  horrible  with  the 
suavity  of  aesthetic  charm.  The  Aztec  gods  were  as  grimly  busi- 
ness-like in  form  as  the  realities  of  their  service  were  fearful. 

In  number  these  divinities  were  myriad  and  in  relations 
chaotic.  There  were  clan  and  tribal,  city  and  national  gods, 
not  only  of  the  victorious  race,  but  of  their  confederates  and 
subjects,  for  the  Aztec  followed  the  custom  of  pagan  con- 
querors, holding  it  safest  to  honour  the  deities  native  to  the 
land;  and  several  of  their  greatest  divinities  were  assuredly 
inherited  from  vanquished  peoples  —  Quetzalcoatl  and  Tlaloc 
among  them  —  though  an  odd  and  somewhat  amusing  fact  is 
that  a  multitude  of  the  godling  idols  of  ravaged  cities  were 
kept  in  a  kind  of  prison-house  in  the  Aztec  capital,  where,  it 
was  assumed,  they  were  incapable  of  assisting  their  former 
worshippers.  There  were  gods  of  commerce  and  industries, 
headed  by  Tacatecutli,  god  of  merchant-adventurers,  whose 
"peaceful  penetration"  opened  paths  for  the  imperial  armies; 
gods  of  potters  and  weavers  and  mat-makers,  of  workers  in 
wood  and  stone  and  metal;  gods  of  agriculture,  of  sowing  and 
ripening  and  reaping;  gods  of  fishermen;  gods  of  the  elements 
—  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water;  gods  of  mountains  and  volca- 
noes; creator-gods;  animal-gods;  gods  of  medicine,  of  disease 


MEXICO  51 

and  death,  and  of  the  underworld;  deity  patrons  of  drunken- 
ness and  of  carnal  vice,  and  deity  protectors  of  the  flowers 
which  these  strange  peoples  loved.  The  whole  heterogeneous 
world  was  filled  with  divinities,  reflecting  the  old  fears  of 
primitive  man  and  the  old  tumults  of  history,  each  god  jealous 
of  his  right  and  gluttonous  of  blood  —  a  kind  of  horrid  ex- 
teriorization  of  human  passion  and  desire. 

However,  this  motley  pantheon  is  not  without  certain 
principles  of  order.  The  regulations  of  an  elaborate  social 
system,  divided  by  clan  and  caste  and  rank  and  guild,  are  re- 
duplicated in  it;  for  to  every  phase  of  Mexican  life  religious 
rites  and  divine  tutelage  were  attached.  Still  more  significant 
as  a  means  of  hierarchic  classification  is  the  relation  of  the 
divine  beings  to  the  divisions  of  time  and  space.  A  cult  of  the 
quarters  of  space  and  their  tutelaries  and  of  the  powers  of 
sky-realms  above  and  of  earth-realms  below  is  almost  uni- 
versal among  American  Indian  groups  showing  any  advance- 
ment in  culture;  the  gods  of  the  quarters,  for  example,  are 
bringers  of  wind  and  rain,  upholders  of  heaven,  animal  chiefs ; 
the  gods  above  are  storm-deities  and  rulers  of  the  orbs  and 
dominions  of  light,  on  the  whole  beneficent;  the  powers  below, 
under  the  hegemony  of  the  earth  goddess,  are  spirits  of  vegeta- 
tion and  lords  of  death  and  things  noxious.  This  is  the  most 
primitive  stage  in  which  the  family  of  Heaven  and  Earth 
begin  to  assume  form  as  an  hierarchic  pantheon.  But  the 
seasons,  beginning  with  the  diurnal  alternation  of  the  rule  of 
light  and  darkness,  and  proceeding  thence  to  the  changing 
phases  of  the  moon  and  the  seasonal  journeys  of  the  sun,  con- 
stantly shift  the  domination  of  the  world  from  deity  to  deity 
and  from  group  to  group.  Thus  the  lords  of  day  are  not  the 
lords  of  night,  nor  are  the'  fates  of  the  mounting  morn  those 
of  descending  eve:  the  Sun  himself  changes  his  disposition 
with  the  hours.  Similarly,  the  Moon's  phases  are  tempers 
rather  than  forms;  and  the  year,  divided  among  the  gods,  runs 
the  cycle  of  their  influences. 


52  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

The  Aztec  and  other  pantheons  of  the  civilized  Mexicans 
evince  all  of  these  elements  with  complications.  Both  cos- 
mography and  calendar  are  more  complex  than  among  the 
more  northerly  Americans,  and  there  is  a  veritable  tangle  of 
space-craft  and  time-craft,  with  astrological  and  necromantic 
conceptions,  bound  up  with  every  human  desire  and  every 
natural  activity.  Certainly  the  most  curious  feature  of  this 
lore  is  the  influence  of  certain  numbers  —  especially  four 
(and  five)  and  nine;  and,  again,  six  (and  seven)  and  thirteen. 
These  number-groups  are  primarily  related  to  space-divisions. 
Thus  four  is  the  number  of  cardinal  points,  North,  South, 
East,  and  West,  to  which  a  fifth  point  is  added  if  the  pou  sto, 
or  point  of  the  observer,  is  included;  by  a  process  of  redupli- 
cation, of  which  there  are  several  instances  in  North  America, 
the  number  of  earth's  cardinal  points  became  the  number  of 
the  sky-tiers  above  and  of  the  earth-tiers  below,  so  that  the 
cosmos  becomes  a  nine-storeyed  structure,  with  earth  its 
middle  plane.  Sometimes  (this  is  characteristic  of  the  Pueblo 
Indians)  orientation  is  with  reference  to  six  points  —  the 
four  directions  and  the  Above  and  the  Below  (the  pou  sto, 
when  added,  becomes  a  seventh  —  a  grouping  which  recalls 
to  us  the  seven  forms  of  Platonic  locomotion  —  up,  down, 
forward,  backward,  right,  left,  and  axial).  With  these  direc- 
tions colours,  jewels,  herbs,  and  animals  are  symbolically 
associated,  becoming  emblems  of  the  ruling  powers  of  the 
quarters.  The  number-groups  thus  cosmographically  formed 
react  upon  time-conceptions,  especially  where  ritual  is  con- 
cerned. Thus  the  Pueblo  Indians  celebrate  lesser  festivals  of 
five  days  (a  day  of  preparation  and  four  of  ritual),  and  greater 
feasts  of  nine  days  (reduplicating  the  four)  the  whole,  in 
some  cases  at  least,  being  comprised  in  a  longer  period  of 
twenty  days.  The  rites  of  the  year  among  the  Zuni  and  some 
others  are  divided  into  two  six-month  groups,  and  each  month 
is  dedicated  to  or  associated  with  one  of  the  six  colour-symbols 
of  the  six  directions;  while  the  Hopi  —  a  fact  of  especial  in- 


MEXICO  53 

terest  —  make  use  of  thirteen  points  on  the  horizon  for  the 
determination  of  ceremonial  dates.7 

The  cosmic  and  calendric  orientation  of  the  Mexicans  is 
a  complex,  with  elaborations,  of  both  these  number-groups 
(i.  e.  four,  five,  nine,  and  six,  seven,  thirteen).  According  to 
one  conception  there  are  nine  heavens  above  and  nine  hells 
beneath.  Ometecutli  ("Twofold  Lord")  and  Omeciuatl 
("Twofold  Lady")  the  male  and  female  powers  of  generation, 
dwell  in  Omeyocan  ("the  Place  of  the  Twofold")  at  the  cul- 
mination of  the  universe;  and  it  is  from  Omeyocan  that  the 
souls  of  babes,  bringing  the  lots  "assigned  to  them  from  the 
commencement  of  the  world,"  8  descend  to  mortal  birth; 
while  in  the  opposite  direction  the  souls  of  the  dead,  after  four 
years  of  wandering,  having  passed  the  nine-fold  stream  of  the 
underworld,  go  to  find  their  rest  in  Chicunauhmictlan,  the 
ninth  pit.  Nine  "Lords  of  the  Night"  preside  over  its  nine 
hours,  and  potently  over  the  affairs  of  men.  Mictlantecutli, 
the  skeleton  god  of  death,  is  lord  of  the  midnight  hour;  the 
owl  is  his  bird;  his  consort  is  Mictlanciuatl ;  and  the  place  of 
their  abode,  windowless  and  lightless,  is  "huge  enough  to  re- 
ceive the  whole  world."  Over  the  first  hour  of  night  and  the 
first  of  morning  (there  are  Lords  of  the  Day,  too)  presides 
Xiuhtecutli,  the  fire-god,  for  the  hearth  of  the  universe,  like 
the  hearth  of  the  house,  is  the  world's  centre. 

But  the  ninefold  conception  of  the  universe  is  not  without 
rival.  A  second  notion  (of  Toltec  source,  according  to  Sa- 
hagun)  speaks  of  twelve  heavens;  or  of  thirteen,  reckoning 
earth  as  one.  The  Toltec,  says  Sahagun,  were  the  first  to 
count  the  days  of  the  year,  the  nights,  and  the  hours,  and  to 
calculate  the  movements  of  the  heavens  by  the  movements 
of  the  stars;  they  affirmed  that  Ometecutli  and  Omeciuatl  rule 
over  the  twelve  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  are  procreators 
of  all  life  below.  There  is  some  ground  for  believing  that  with 
this  there  was  associated  a  belief  in  twelve  corresponding 
under-worlds,  for  Seler  9  plausibly  argues  that  the  five-and- 


54  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

twenty  divine  pairs  of  Codex  Vaticanus  B  represent  twelve 
pairs  of  rulers  of  hours  of  the  day,  twelve  of  hours  of  the  night, 
and  one  intermediate.  However,  the  arrangement  which 
Seler  finds  predominating  is  that  of  thirteen  Lords  of  the  Day 
and  nine  Lords  of  the  Night  —  implying  a  commingling  of 
the  two  systems  —  and  this  scheme  (the  day-hour  lords  fol- 
lowing the  Aubin  Tonalamatl  and  the  Codex  Borbonicus,  as 
Seler  interprets  them)  he  reconstructs  dial-fashion,  as  follows: 

(Noon) 

7.  Xochipilli  Cinteotl 

(Flower-God  as  Maize-God) 

6.    Teoyaoimqui  8.    Tlaloc 

(Warrior's  Death-God)  (God  of  Rain) 

5.    Tlazolteotl  9.    Quetzalcoatl 

(Goddess  of  Dirt)  (as  Wind-God) 

4.    Tonatiuh  10.    Tezcatlipoca 

(the  Sun-God)  (the  Great  God) 

3.    Chalchiuhtlicue                   (Day)  11.    Mictlantecutli 

(Goddess  of  Water)  (God  of  the  Dead) 

2.    Tlaltecutli  12.    Tlauizcalpantecutli 

(the  Earth  as  Gaping  Jaws)  (the  Planet  Venus) 

1.    Xiuhtecutli  13.    Ilamatecutli 

(God  of  Fire)  (Mother -of  the  Gods) 

IX.    Tlaloc  I.    Xiuhtecutli 

(God  of  Rain)  (God  of  Fire) 

Vin.    Tepeyollotl                          (Night)  U.    Itztli 

(Heart  of  the  Mountain)  (Stone-Knife  God) 

VII.    Tlazolteotl  HI.    Piltzintecutli-Tonatiuh 

(Earth  Goddess)  (Lord  of  Princes,  the  Sun) 

VI.    Chalchiuhtlicue                            IV.  Cinteotl 

(Goddess  of  Flowing  Water)  (Maize-God) 

V.    Mictlantecutli 
(God  of  the  Underworld) 

(Midnight) 

But  the  gods  are  patrons  not  only  of  the  celestial  worlds 
and  of  the  underworlds,  hours  of  the  day  and  of  the  night; 
they  are  also  rulers  and  tutelaries  of  the  quarters  of  earth  and 
heaven,  and  of  the  numerous  divisions  and  periods  of  time 
involved  in  the  complicated  Mexican  calendar.  The  in- 
fluences of  the  cosmos  were  conceived  to  vary  not  merely 
with  the  seasonal  or  solar  year  of  365  days,  but  also  with  the 


MEXICO  55 

Tonalamatl  (a  calendric  period  of  13  x  20,  or  260,  days);  again 
with  a  584-day  period  of  the  phases  of  Venus;  and  finally  with 
the  cycles  formed  by  measuring  these  periods  into  one  an- 
other. Here,  it  is  evident,  we  are  in  the  presence  not  only  of  a 
scheme  capable  of  utilizing  an  extensive  pantheon,  but  of  one 
having  divinatory  possibilities  second  to  no  astrology. 

As  such  it  was  used  by  the  Mexican  priests,  and  various 
codices,  or  pinturas,  preserved  from  the  general  destruction  of 
Aztec  manuscripts  are  nothing  but  calendric  charts  to  calcu- 
late days  for  feasts  and  days  auspicious  or  inauspicious  for 
enterprise.  In  one  of  these,  the  Codex  Ferjervary-Mayer,  the 
first  sheet  is  devoted  to  a  figure  in  the  general  form  of  a  cross 
pattee  combined  with  an  X,  or  St.  Andrew's  cross.  This  figure, 
as  explained  by  Seler,10  affords  a  graphic  illustration  of  Aztec 
ideas.  It  represents  the  five  regions  of  the  world  and  their 
deities,  the  good  and  bad  days  of  the  Tonalamatl^  the  nine 
Lords  of  the  Night,  and  the  four  trees  (in  form  like  tau- 
crosses)  which  rise  into  the  quarters  of  heaven,  perhaps  as  its 
support.  In  the  Middle  Place,  the  pou  sto,  is  the  red  image  of 
Xiuhtecutli,  the  Fire-Deity  —  "the  Mother,  the  Father  of  the 
Gods,  who  dwells  in  the  navel  of  the  Earth")  —  armed  with 
spears  and  spear-thrower,  while  from  the  divinity's  body  four 
streams  of  blood  flow  to  the  four  cardinal  points,  terminating 
in  symbols  appropriate  to  these  points  —  East,  a  yellow  hand 
typifying  the  sun's  ray;  North,  the  stump  of  a  leg,  symbol  of 
Tezcatlipoca  as  Mictlantecutli,  lord  of  the  underworld;  West, 
where  the  sun  dies,  the  vertebrae  and  ribs  of  a  skeleton; 
South,  Tezcatlipoca  as  lord  of  the  air,  with  featherdown  in 
his  head-gear.  The  arms  of  the  St.  Andrew's  cross  terminate 
in  birds  —  quetzal,  macaw,  eagle,  parrot  —  bearing  shields 
upon  which  are  depicted  the  four  day-signs  after  which  the 
years  are  named  (because,  in  sequence,  they  fall  on  the  first 
day  of  the  year),  each  year  being  brought  into  relation  with  a 
correspondingly  symbolized  world-quarter;  within  each  arm 
of  the  cross,  below  the  day-sign,  is  a  sign  denoting  plenty  or 


56  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

famine.  But  the  main  part  of  the  design,  about  the  centre,  is 
occupied  with  symbols  of  the  quarters  of  the  heavens.  In  each 
section  is  a  T-shaped  tree,  surmounted  by  a  bird,  with  tutelary 
deities  on  either  side  of  the  trunk.  Above,  framed  in  red,  the 
tree  rises  from  an  image  of  the  sun,  set  on  a  temple,  while  a 
quetzal  bird  surmounts  it;  the  gods  on  either  side  are  (left) 
Itztli,  the  Stone-Knife  God,  and  (right)  Tonatiuh,  the  Sun; 
the  whole  symbolizes  the  tree  which  rises  into  the  eastern 
heavens.  The  trapezoid  opposite  this,  coloured  blue,  symbol 
of  the  west,  contains  a  thorn-tree  rising  from  the  body  of  the 
dragon  of  the  eclipse  (for  the  heavens  descend  to  darkness  in 
this  region)  and  surmounted  by  a  humming-bird,  which,  ac- 
cording to  Aztec  belief,  dies  with  the  dry  and  revives  with  the 
rainy  season;  the  attendant  deities  are  Chalchiuhtlicue,  god- 
dess of  flowing  water,  and  the  earth  goddess  Tlazolteotl,  deity 
of  dirt  and  of  sin.  To  the  right,  framed  in  yellow,  a  thorny 
tree  rises  from  a  dish  containing  emblems  of  expiation,  while 
an  eagle  surmounts  it;  the  attendants  are  Tlaloc,  the  rain-god, 
and  Tepeyollotl,  the  Heart  of  the  Mountains,  Voice  of  the 
Jaguar  —  all  a  token  of  the  northern  heavens.  Opposite  this 
is  a  green  trapezoid  containing  a  parrot-surmounted  tree  ris- 
ing from  the  jaws  of  the  Earth,  and  having,  on  one  side,  Cin- 
teotl,  the  maize-god,  and  on  the  other,  Mictlantecutli,  the 
divinity  of  death.  The  nine  deities,  he  of  the  centre  and  the 
four  pairs,  form  the  group  of  los  Senores  de  la  Noche  ("the 
Lords  of  Night");  while  the  whole  figure  symbolizes  the 
orientation  of  the  world-powers  in  space  and  time  —  years 
and  Tonalamatls,  earth-realms  and  sky-realms. 

The  recurrence  of  cross-forms  in  this  and  similar  pictures  is 
striking:  the  Greek  cross,  the  tau-cross,  St.  Andrew's  cross. 
The  Codex  Vaticanus  B  contains  a  series  of  symbols  of  the 
trees  of  the  quarters  approximating  the  Roman  cross  in  form, 
suggesting  the  cross-figured  tablets  of  Palenque.  In  the 
analogous  series  of  the  Codex  Borgia,  each  tree  issues  from 
the  recumbent  body  of  an  earth  divinity  or  underworld  deity, 


PLATE  VI 

First  page  of  the  Codex  Ferjervary-Mayer,  rep- 
resenting the  five  regions  of  the  world  and  their 
tutelary  deities.  Seler's  interpretation  of  this  figure 
is  given,  in  brief,  on  pages  55-56  of  this  book. 


MEXICO  57 

each  surmounted  by  a  heaven-bird;  and  again  all  are  cruci- 
form. There  is  also  a  tree  of  the  Middle  Place  in  the  series, 
rising  from  the  body  of  the  Earth  Goddess,  who  is  masked 
with  a  death's  head  and  lies  upon  the  spines  of  a  crocodile — 
"the  fish  from  which  Earth  was  made"  —  surmounted  by  the 
quetzal  bird  (Pharomacrus  mocinno),  whose  green  and  flowing 
tail-plumage  is  the  symbol  of  fructifying  moisture  and  re- 
sponding fertility  — "  already  has  it  changed  to  quetzal 
feathers,  already  all  has  become  green,  already  the  rainy  time 
is  here!"  About  the  stem  of  the  tree  are  the  circles  of  the 
world-encompassing  sea,  and  on  either  side  of  it,  springing  also 
from  the  body  of  the  goddess,  are  two  great  ears  of  maize. 
The  attendant  or  tutelar  deities  in  this  image  are  Quetzal- 
coatl  ("the  green  Feather-Snake"),  god  of  the  winds,  and 
Macuilxochitl  ("the  Five  Flowers"),  the  divinity  of  music 
and  dancing.  Another  series  of  figures  in  this  same  Codex 
represent  the  gods  of  the  quarters  as  caryatid-like  upbearers 
of  the  skies  —  Quetzalcoatl  of  the  east;  Huitzilopochtli,  the 
Aztec  war-god,  of  the  south;  Tlauizcalpantecutli,  Venus  as 
Evening  Star,  of  the  west;  Mictlantecutli,  the  death-god,  of 
the  north.  All  these,  however,  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  ex- 
amples of  the  multifarious  cosmic  and  calendric  arrangements 
of  the  gods  of  the  Aztec  pantheon. 

IV.  THE  GREAT  GODS" 

On  the  cosmic  and  astral  side  the  regnant  powers  of  the 
Aztec  pantheon  are  the  Gaping  Jaws  of  Earth;  the  Sea  as  a 
circumambient  Great  Serpent;  and  the  Death's-Head  God  of 
the  Underworld;  while  above  are  the  Sun  wearing  a  collar  of 
life-giving  rays;  the  Moon  represented  as  marked  by  a  rabbit 
(for  in  Mexican  myth  the  Moon  shone  as  brightly  as  the  Sun 
till  the  latter  darkened  his  rival  by  casting  a  rabbit  upon  his 
face);  and  finally  the  Great  Star,  "Lord  in  the  House  of 
Dawn,"  the  planet  Venus,  characteristically  shown  with  a 


58  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

body  streaked  red  and  white,  now  Morning  Star,  now  Even- 
ing Star.  The  Sun  and  Venus  are  far  more  important  than  the 
Moon,  for  the  reason  that  their  periods  (365  and  584  days 
respectively),  along  with  the  Tonalamatl  (260  days),  form  the 
foundation  for  calendric  computations.  The  regents  of  the 
quarters  of  space  and  of  the  divisions  of  time  are  ranged  in 
numerous  and  complex  groups  under  these  deities  of  the 
cosmos. 

But  the  divinities  who  are  thus  important  cosmically  are 
not  in  like  measure  important  politically,  nor  indeed  mytho- 
logically,  since  the  great  gods  of  the  Aztec,  like  those  of  other 
consciously  political  peoples,  were  those  that  presided  over 
the  activities  of  statecraft  —  war  and  agriculture  and  political 
destiny.  In  the  Aztec  capital  the  central  teocalli  was  the  shrine 
of  Huitzilopochtli,  the  war-god  and  national  deity  of  the  rul- 
ing tribe.  The  teocalli  above  the  market-place,  which  Bernal 
Diaz  describes,  was  devoted  to  Coatlicue,  the  mother  of  the 
war-god,  to  Tezcatlipoca,  the  omnipotent  divinity  of  all  the 
Nahua  tribes,  and,  in  a  second  shrine,  to  Tlaloc,  the  rain-god, 
whose  cult,  according  to  tradition,  was  older  than  the  coming 
of  the  first  Nahua.  In  a  third  temple,  built  in  circular  rather 
than  pyramidal  form,  was  the  shrine  of  what  was  perhaps  the 
most  ancient  deity  of  all,  Quetzalcoatl  ("the  Feather-Snake"), 
lord  of  wind  and  weather.  These  —  Huitzilopochtli,  Tezcat- 
lipoca, Quetzalcoatl,  and  Tlaloc  —  are  the  gods  that  are  su- 
preme in  picturesque  emphasis  in  the  Aztec  pantheon. 

i.   HUITZILOPOCHTLI  lz 

The  great  teocalli  of  Huitzilopochtli  stood  in  the  centre  of 
Tenochtitlan  and  was  dedicated  in  the  year  1486  by  Ahuitzotl, 
the  emperor  preceding  the  last  Montezuma,  with  the  sacrifice 
of  huge  numbers  of  captive  warriors  —  sixty  to  eighty  thou- 
sand, if  we  are  to  believe  the  chroniclers.  On  the  platform  top 
of  the  pyramidal  structure,  bearing  the  fane  of  the  war-god 


MEXICO  59 

and  also  (as  in  the  case  of  the  temple  in  the  market  place)  a 
shrine  of  Tlaloc,  was  space,  tradition  says,  for  a  thousand 
warriors,  and  it  was  here,  in  1520,  that  Cortez  and  his  com- 
panions waged  their  most  picturesque  battle,  fighting  their 
way  up  the  temple  stairs,  clearing  the  summit  of  some  four 
hundred  Aztec  warriors,  burning  the  fanes,  and  hurling  the 
images  of  the  gods  to  the  pavements  below.  After  the  Con- 
quest the  temple  was  razed,  and  the  Cathedral  which  still 
adorns  the  City  of  Mexico  was  erected  on  or  near  a  site  which 
had  probably  seen  more  human  blood  shed  for  superstition 
than  has  any  other  in  the  world. 

The  name  of  the  war-god,  Huitzilopochtli  (or  Uitzilopochtli), 
is  curiously  innocent  in  suggestion  —  "Humming-Bird  of  the 
South"  (literally,  "Humming-Bird-Left-Side,"  for  in  naming 
the  directions  the  Nahua  called  the  south  the  "left"  of  the 
sun).  Humming-bird  feathers  on  his  left  leg  formed  part  of 
the  insignia  of  the  divinity;  the  fire-snake,  Xiuhcoatl,  was  an- 
other attribute,  and  the  spear-thrower  which  he  carried  was 
serpentine  in  form;  among  his  weapons  were  arrows  tipped 
with  balls  of  featherdown;  and  it  was  to  his  glory  that  gladia- 
torial sacrifices  were  held  in  which  captive  warriors,  chained 
to  the  sacrificial  rock,  were  armed  with  down-tipped  weapons 
and  forced  to  fight  to  the  death  with  Aztec  champions.  One 
of  the  most  romantic  of  native  tales  recounts  the  capture,  by 
wile,  of  the  Tlascalan  chieftain,  Tlahuicol.  Such  was  his  renown 
that  Montezuma  offered  him  citizenship,  rather  than  the  usual 
death  by  sacrifice,  and  even  sent  him  at  the  head  of  a  mili- 
tary expedition  in  which  the  Tlascalan  won  notable  victories. 
But  the  chieftain  refused  all  proffers  of  grace,  claiming  the 
right  to  die  a  warrior's  death  on  the  sacrificial  stone,  and  at 
last,  after  three  years  of  captivity,  Montezuma  conceded  to 
him  the  privilege  sought  —  the  gladiatorial  sacrifice.  The 
Tlascalan  is  said  to  have  slain  eight  Aztec  warriors  and  to 
have  wounded  twenty  before  he  finally  succumbed.  It  may 
be  remarked  in  passing  that  the  Tlascalan  deity,  Camaxtli, 


60  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  Tarascan  Curicaveri,  the  Chichimec  Mixcoatl,  and  the 
tribal  god  of  the  Tepanec  and  Otomi,  Otontecutli  or  Xocotl, 
were  similar  to,  if  not  identical  with,  Huitzilopochtli. 

The  myth  of  the  birth  of  Huitzilopochtli,  which  Sahagun 
relates,  throws  light  upon  the  character  of  the  divinity.  His 
mother,  Coatlicue  ("She  of  the  Serpent- Woven  Skirt"), 
dwelling  on  Coatepec  ("Serpent  Mountain"),  had  a  family 
consisting  of  a  daughter,  Coyolxauhqui  ("She  whose  Face  is 
Painted  with  Bells"),  and  of  many  sons,  known  collectively 
as  the  Centzonuitznaua  ("the  Four  Hundred  Southerners"). 
One  day,  while  doing  penance  upon  the  mountain,  a  ball  of 
feathers  fell  upon  her,  and  having  placed  this  in  her  bosom,  it 
was  observed,  shortly  afterward,  that  she  was  pregnant.  Her 
sons,  the  Centzonuitznaua,  urged  by  Coyolxauhqui,  planned 
to  slay  their  mother  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  which  they  con- 
ceived to  have  befallen  them;  but  though  Coatlicue  was 
frightened,  the  unborn  child  commanded  her  to  have  no  fear. 
One  of  the  Four  Hundred,  turning  traitor,  communicated  to 
the  still  unborn  Huitzilopochtli  the  approach  of  the  hostile 
brothers,  and  at  the  moment  of  their  arrival  the  god  was  born 
in  full  panoply,  carrying  a  blue  shield  and  dart,  his  limbs 
painted  blue,  his  head  adorned  with  plumes,  and  his  left  leg 
decked  with  humming-bird  feathers.  Commanding  his  serv- 
ant to  light  a  torch,  in  shape  a  serpent,  with  this  Xiuhcoatl 
he  slew  Coyolxauhqui,  and  destroying  her  body,  he  placed  her 
head  upon  the  summit  of  Coatepec.  Then  taking  up  his  arms, 
he  pursued  and  slew  the  Centzonuitznaua,  a  very  few  of  whom 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  Uitztlampa  ("the  Place  of  Thorns"), 
the  South. 

The  myth  seemingly  identifies  Huitzilopochtli  as  a  god  of 
the  southern  sun.  The  hostile  sister  is  the  moon;  the  brothers 
are  the  stars  driven  from  the  heavens  by  the  rising  sun,  whose 
blue  shield  is  surely 'the  blue  buckler  of  the  daylit  sky;  and 
probably  the  balls  of  featherdown  tipping  his  arrows  are 
cloud-symbols.  Sahagun  describes  a  sacramental  rite  in  which 


PLATE  VII 

1.  Colossal   stone  head    representing  Coyol.xauh- 
qui,    the   Moon   goddess,    sister   of   Huitzilopochtli 
(see  page  60).     The  head  is  not  a  fragment,  but 
bears  figures  upon  its  base,  and  doubtless  represents 
Coyolxauhqui   as   slain   by  the   Fire   Snake,  Xiuh- 
coatl,  hurled  by  Huitzilopochtli,  and  afterwards  be- 
headed   by   him.      The    original    is    in    the   Museo 
Nacional,  Mexico. 

2.  Statue    of    the    god    of    feasting,    Xochipilli, 
"Lord   of  Flowers"    (see   page   77).     The   crest  is 
missing.     The  original  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

3.  The  Fire  Snake,  Xiuhcoatl,  as  represented  in 
stone.     The  Fire  Snake  is  associated  with  Huitzi- 
lopochtli, Tezcatlipoca,   and  the  fire  god,  Xiuhte- 
cutli;  and  stands,  perhaps,  in  a  kind  of  opposition 
to  the  "Green  Feather  Snake,"  Quetzalcoatl,  the 
latter   signifying   rain   and   vegetation,   the   former 
drought  and  want   (cf.   the  hymn  to  Xipe  Totec, 
page  77).     The  original  is  in  the  British  Museum. 


MEXICO  61 

an  image  of  the  god's  body,  made  of  grain,  was  eaten  by  a 
group  of  youths  who  were  for  a  year  the  servitors  of  the  deity, 
with  duties  so  onerous  that  the  young  men  sometimes  fled 
the  country,  preferring  death  at  the  hands  of  their  enemies  — 
a  statement  which  leads  to  the  suspicion  that  here  was  some 
ordeal  connected  with  chivalric  advancement.  Certainly 
Huitzilopochtli  was  a  god  of  warriors,  and  it  is  probable  that 
those  devoted  to  him  sought  the  warrior's  death,  which  meant 
ascent  into  the  skies  rather  than  that  descent  into  murky 
Mictlan  which  was  the  lot  of  the  ordinary.  In  this  connexion 
the  name  of  the  divinity  and  the  humming-bird  feather  in- 
signia acquire  significance;  for  again  it  is  Sahagun  who  relates 
that  the  souls  of  ascending  warriors,  after  four  years,  are 
"metamorphosed  into  various  kinds  of  birds  of  rich  plumage 
and  brilliant  colour  which  go  about  drawing  the  sweet  from 
the  flowers  of  the  sky,  as  do  the  humming-birds  upon  earth." 

2.   TEZCATLIPOCA  13 

Tezcatlipoca,  or  "Smoking  Mirror,"  was  so  called  because 
of  his  most  conspicuous  emblem,  a  mirror  from  which  a  spiral 
of  smoke  is  sometimes  represented  as  ascending,  and  in  which 
the  god  was  supposed  to  see  all  that  takes  place  on  earth,  in 
heaven,  and  in  hell.  Frequently  the  mirror  is  shown  as  re- 
placing one  of  his  feet  (loss  or  abnormality  of  cne  foot  is  com- 
mon in  the  Mexican  pantheon),  explained  mythically  as 
severed  when  the  doors  of  the  underworld  closed  prematurely 
upon  it  —  for  Tezcatlipoca  in  one  of  his  many  functions  is 
deity  of  the  setting  sun.  In  other  aspects  he  is  a'  moon-god, 
the  moon  of  the  evening  skies;  again,  a  divinity  of  the  night; 
or  sometimes,  with  blindfold  eyes,  a  god  of  the  underworld 
and  of  the  dead;  and  in  the  calendric  charts  he  is  represented 
as  regent  of  the  northern  heavens,  although  sometimes  (per- 
haps identified  with  Huitzilopochtli)  he  is  ruler  of  the  south. 
Probably  he  is  at  bottom  the  incarnation  of  the  changing 


62  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

heavens,  symbolized  by  his  mirror,  now  fiery,  now  murky, 
reflecting  the  encompassed  universe.  He  is  the  red  Tezcatli- 
poca  and  the  black  —  the  heaven  of  day  and  the  heaven  of 
night.  He  is  the  Warrior  of  the  North  and  the  Warrior  of  the 
South,  symbolizing  the  course  of  the  yearly  sun,  which,  in  the 
latitude  of  Mexico,  culminates  with  the  alternating  seasons 
to  the  north  and  to  the  south  of  the  zenith.  His  emblems  in- 
clude the  Fire-Snake,  symbol  of  heavenly  fires;  and  again  he 
is  Iztli-Tezcatlipoca,  the  Stone-Knife  God  of  the  underworld, 
of  blood-letting  penance,  and  of  human  sacrifice.  Sahagun 
says  of  him  that  he  raised  wars,  enmities,  and  discords  wherever 
he  went;  nevertheless,  he  was  the  ruler  of  the  world,  and  from 
him  proceeded  all  prosperities  and  enrichments.  Frequently 
he  is  represented  as  a  jaguar,  which  to  the  Mexicans  was  the 
dragon  of  the  eclipse,  a  were-beast,  and  the  patron  of  magicians ; 
cross-roads  were  marked  by  seats  for  Tezcatlipoca,  the  god 
who  traversed  all  ways;  and  he  was  called  the  Wizard  and  the 
Transformer.  In  himself  he  was  invisible  and  impalpable, 
penetrating  all  things;  or,  if  he  appeared  to  men,  it  was  as 
a  flitting  shadow;  yet  he  could  assume  multifarious  mon- 
strous forms  to  tempt  and  try  men,  striking  them  with  disease 
and  death.  As  Yoalli  Ehecatl,  the  Night  Wind,  he  wandered 
about  in  search  of  evil-doers,  and  sinners  summoned  him  in 
their  confessions.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  "the  Youth" 
(Telpochtli),  and  as  Omacatl  ("Two-Reed")  he  was  lord  of 
banquets  and  festivities. 

It  is  evident  that  Tezcatlipoca  is  the  Great  Transformer, 
identified  with  the  heavens  and  all  its  breaths,  twofold  in  all 
things:  day,  night;  life,  death;  good,  evil.  Certainly  he  seems 
to  have  been  held  in  more  awe  than  any  other  Mexican  god 
and  well  merits  the  supremacy  (not  political,  but  religious) 
which  tradition  assigns  to  him.  The  most  notable  of  the 
prayers  which  Sahagun  transcribes  are  filled  with  poetic 
veneration  for  this  deity,  and  had  we  only  these  invocations 
as  record  —  not  also  tales  of  the  fearful  human  sacrifices  — 


MEXICO  63 

we  should  assuredly  assign  to  their  Aztec  composers  a  pure 
and  noble  religious  sentiment.  Perhaps  theirs  was  so,  for 
men's  actions  everywhere  seem  worse  than  the  creeds  which 
impel  them.  Thus,  in  time  of  plague  the  priests  prayed : 

"O  mighty  Lord,  under  whose  wings  we  seek  protection,  defence, 
and  shelter!  Thou  art  invisible,  impalpable,  as  the  air  and  as  the 
night.  I  come  in  humility  and  in  littleness,  daring  to  appear  before 
Thy  Majesty.  I  come  uttering  my  words  like  one  choking  and 
stammering;  my  speech  is  wandering,  like  as  the  way  of  one  who 
strayeth  from  the  path  and  stumbleth.  I  am  possessed  of  the  fear 
of  exciting  thy  wrath  against  me  rather  than  the  hope  of  meriting 
thy  grace.  But,  Lord,  do  with  my  body  as  it  pleaseth  thee,  for  thou 
hast  indeed  abandoned  us  according  to  thy  counsels  taken  in  heaven 
and  in  hell.  Oh,  sorrow!  thine  anger  and  thine  indignation  are  de- 
scended upon  us  in  all  our  days  .  .  . 

"O  Lord,  very  kindly!  Thou  knowest  that  we  mortals  are  like 
unto  children  which,  when  punished,  weep  and  sigh,  repenting  their 
faults.  It  is  thus  that  these  men,  ruined  by  thy  chastisements,  re- 
proach themselves  grievously.  They  confess  in  thy  presence;  they 
atone  for  their  evil  deeds,  imposing  penance  upon  themselves.  Lord, 
very  good,  very  compassionate,  very  noble,  very  precious!  let  the 
chastisement  which  thou  hast  inflicted  suffice,  and  let  the  ills  which 
thou  hast  sent  in  castigation  find  their  end!" 

Throughout  the  prayers  there  are  characterizations  of  the  god, 
not  a  few  of  them  echoing  a  kind  of  world-weary  melancholy 
that  seems  so  typical  of  Aztec  supplications.  When  the  new 
king  is  crowned,  the  priest  prays:  "Perchance,  deeming  him- 
self worthy  of  his  high  employ,  he  will  think  to  perpetuate 
himself  long  therein.  Will  not  this  be  for  him  a  dream  of 
sorrow?  Will  he  find  in  this  dignity  received  at  thy  hands  an 
occasion  of  pride  and  presumption,  till  it  hap  that  he  despise 
the  world,  assuming  to  himself  a  sumptuous  show?  Thy 
Majesty  knoweth  well  whereto  he  must  come  within  a  few 
brief  days  —  for  we  men  are  but  thy  spectacle,  thy  theatre, 
serving  for  thy  laughter  and  diversion."  And  when  the  king 
is  dead:  "Thou  hast  given  him  to  taste  in  this  world  a  few  of 
thy  sweets  and  suavities,  making  them  to  pass  before  his 


64  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

eyes  like  the  will-o'-the-wisp,  which  vanisheth  in  an  instant; 
such  is  the  dignity  of  the  post  wherein  thou  didst  place  him, 
and  in  which  he  had  a  few  days  in  thy  service,  prostrate,  in 
tears,  breathing  his  devoted  prayers  unto  thy  Majesty." 
Again:  "Thou  art  invisible  and  impalpable,  and  we  believe 
that  thy  gaze  doth  penetrate  the  stones  and  into  the  hearts 
of  the  trees,  seeing  clearly  all  that  is  concealed  therein.  So 
dost  thou  see  and  comprehend  what  is  in  our  hearts  and  in 
our  thoughts;  before  thee  our  souls  are  as  a  waft  of  smoke  or 
as  a  vapour  that  riseth  from  the  earth." 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  rite  in  the  Aztec  year  was  the 
springtime  sacrifice  to  Tezcatlipoca  —  near  Easter,  Sahagun 
says.  In  the  previous  year  a  youth  had  been  selected  from  a 
group  of  captives  trained  for  the  purpose,  physically  without 
blemish  and  having  all  accomplishments  possible.  He  was 
trained  to  sing  and  to  play  the  flute,  to  carry  flowers  and  to 
smoke  with  elegance;  he  was  dressed  in  rich  apparel  and  was 
constantly  accompanied  by  eight  pages.  The  king  himself 
provided  for  his  habiliment,  since  "he  held  him  already  to  be 
a  god."  For  nearly  a  year  this  youth  was  entertained  and 
feasted,  honoured  by  the  nobility  and  venerated  by  the  popu- 
lace as  the  living  embodiment  of  Tezcatlipoca.  Twenty  days 
before  the  festival  his  livery  was  changed,  and  his  long  hair 
was  dressed  like  that  of  an  Aztec  chieftain.  Four  maidens,  deli- 
cately reared,  were  assigned  to  him  as  wives,  called  by  the 
names  of  four  goddesses  —  Xochiquetzal  ("  Flowering  Quetzal- 
Plume"),  Xilonen  ("Young  Maize"),  Atlatonan  (a  goddess 
of  the  coast),  and  Uixtociuatl  (goddess  of  the  salt  water). 
Five  days  previous  to  the  sacrifice  a  series  of  feasts  and  dances 
was  begun,  continued  during  each  of  the  following  four  days 
in  separate  quarters  of  the  city.  Then  came  the  final  day;  the 
youth  was  taken  beyond  the  city;  his  goddess-wives  aban- 
doned him;  and  he  was  brought  to  a  little  road-side  temple  for 
the  consummation  of  the  rite.  He  ascended  its  four  stages, 
breaking  a  flute  at  each  stage,  till  at  the  top  he  was  seized, 


PLATE  VIII 

Figure  from  the  Codex  Borgia  representing  the  red 
and  the  black  Tezcatlipoca  facing  one  another 
across  a  tlachtli  court  upon  which  is  shown  a  sacri- 
ficial victim  painted  with  the  red  and  white  stripes 
of  the  Morning  and  Evening  Star  (Venus).  The 
red  Tezcatlipoca  symbolizes  day,  the  black  Tez- 
catlipoca, night;  the  ball  court  is  a  symbol  of  the 
universe;  the  Morning  and  Evening  Star  might 
very  naturally  be  looked  upon  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
heaven  god. 


MEXICO  65 

and  the  priest  opening  his  breast  with  a  single  blow,  pre- 
sented his  heart  to  the  sun.  Immediately  another  youth  was 
chosen  for  the  following  year,  for  the  Tezcatlipoca  must  never 
die.  It  was  said,  remarks  Sahagun,  that  this  youth's  fate 
signified  that  those  who  possess  wealth  and  march  amid 
pleasures  during  life  will  end  their  career  in  grief  and  poverty; 
while  Torquemada  more  grimly  comments  that  "the  soul  of 
the  victim  went  down  to  the  company  of  his  false  gods,  in  hell." 
For  the  student  of  to-day,  however,  the  rite  is  but  another 
significant  symbol  of  the  god  who  dies  and  is  born  again. 

In  myth  Tezcatlipoca  plays  the  leading  role  as  adversary 
of  Quetzalcoatl,  the  ruler  and  god  of  the  Toltec  city  of  Tollan. 
In  Sahagun's  version  of  the  story,  three  magicians,  Huitzil- 
opochtli,  Titlacauan  ("We  are  his  Slaves,"  an  epithet  of 
Tezcatlipoca),  and  Tlacauepan,  the  younger  brother  of  the 
others,  undertook  by  magic  and  wile  to  drive  Quetzalcoatl 
from  the  country  and  to  overthrow  the  Toltec  power.  The 
three  deities  are  obviously  tribal  gods  of  Nahuatlan  nations, 
and  Tezcatlipoca,  who  plays  the  chief  part  in  the  legends,  is 
clearly  the  god  of  first  importance  at  this  early  period,  possi- 
bly the  principal  deity  of  all  the  Nahua;  he  was  also  the  fore- 
most divinity  of  Tezcuco,  which,  almost  to  the  eve  of  the 
Conquest,  was  the  leading  partner  in  the  Aztec  confederacy. 
As  the  tale  goes,  Quetzalcoatl  was  ailing;  Tezcatlipoca  ap- 
peared in  the  guise  of  an  old  man,  a  physician,  and  admin- 
istered to  the  ailing  god,  not  medicine,  but  a  liquor  which  in- 
toxicated him.  Texcatlipoca  then  assumed  the  form  of  a 
nude  Indian  of  a  strange  tribe,  a  seller  of  green  peppers,  and 
walked  before  the  palace  of  Uemac,  temporal  chief  of  the 
Toltec.  Here  he  was  seen  by  the  chief's  daughter,  who  fell  ill 
of  love  for  him.  Uemac  ordered  the  stranger  brought  before 
him  and  demanded  of  Toueyo  (as  the  stranger  called  himself) 
why  he  was  not  clothed  as  other  men.  "It  is  not  the  custom 
of  my  country,"  Toueyo  answered.  "You  have  inspired  my 
daughter  with  caprice;  you  must  cure  her,"  said  Uemac.  "That 


66  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

is  impossible;  kill  me;  I  would  die,  for  I  do  not  deserve  such 
words,  seeking  as  I  am  only  to  earn  an  honest  living."  "Never- 
theless, you  shall  cure  her,"  replied  the  chief,  "it  is  necessary; 
have  no  fear."  So  he  caused  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with 
the  stranger,  who  thus  became  a  chieftain  among  the  Toltec. 
Winning  a  victory  for  his  new  countrymen,  he  announced  a 
feast  in  Tollan;  and  when  the  multitudes  were  assembled,  he 
caused  them  to  dance  to  his  singing  until  they  were  as  men  in- 
toxicated or  demented;  they  danced  into  a  ravine  and  were 
changed  into  rocks,  they  fell  from  a  bridge  and  became  stones 
in  the  waters  below.  Again,  in  company  with  Tlacauepan,  he 
appeared  in  the  market-place  of  Tollan  and  caused  the  infant 
Huitzilopochtli  to  dance  upon  his  hand.  The  people,  crowd- 
ing near,  crushed  several  of  their  number  dead;  enraged,  they 
slew  the  performers  and,  on  the  advice  of  Tlacauepan,  fas- 
tened ropes  to  their  bodies  to  drag  them  out;  but  all  who 
touched  the  cords  fell  dead.  By  this  and  other  magical  de- 
vices great  numbers  of  the  Toltec  were  slain,  and  their  dominion 
was  brought  to  an  end. 

3.     QUETZALCOATL  14 

The  most  famous  and  picturesque  of  New  World  mythic 
figures  is  that  of  Quetzalcoatl,  although  primarily  his  renown 
is  due  less  to  the  undoubted  importance  of  his  cult  than  to 
his  association  with  the  coming  and  the  beliefs  of  the  white 
men.  According  to  native  tradition,  Quetzalcoatl  had  been 
the  wise  and  good  ruler  of  Tollan  in  the  Golden  Age  of  Ana- 
huac,  lawgiver,  teacher  of  the  arts,  and  founder  of  a  purified 
religion.  Driven  from  his  kingdom  by  the  machinations  of 
evil  magicians,  he  departed  over  the  eastern  sea  for  Tlapallan, 
the  land  of  plenty,  promising  to  return  and  reinstitute  his 
kindly  creed  on  some  future  anniversary  of  the  day  of  his  de- 
parture. He  was  described  as  an  old  man,  bearded,  and  white, 
clad  in  a  long  robe;  as  with  other  celestial  gods,  crosses  were 


MEXICO  67 

associated  with  his  representations  and  shrines.  When  Cortez 
landed,  the  Mexicans  were  expecting  the  return  of  Quetzal- 
coatl;  and,  according  to  Sahagun,  the  very  outlooks  who  first 
beheld  the  ships  of  the  Spaniards  had  been  posted  to  watch 
for  the  coming  god.  The  white  men  (perhaps  the  image  was 
aided  by  their  shining  armour,  their  robed  priests,  their 
crosses)  were  inevitably  assumed  to  be  the  deity,  and  among 
the  gifts  sent  to  them  by  Montezuma  were  the  turquoise  mask, 
feather  mantle,  and  other  apparel  appropriate  to  the  god.  It 
is  certain  that  the  belief  materially  aided  the  Spaniards  in  the 
early  stages  of  their  advance,  and  it  is  small  wonder  that  the 
myth  which  was  so  helpful  to  their  ambitions  should  have  ap- 
pealed to  their  imaginations.  The  missionary  priests,  gaining 
some  idea  of  native  traditions  and  finding  among  them  ideas, 
emblems,  and  rites  analogous  to  those  of  Christendom  (the 
deluge,  the  cross,  baptism,  sacraments,  confession),  not  un- 
naturally saw  in  the  figure  of  the  robed  and  bearded  reformer 
of  religion  a  Christian  teacher,  and  they  were  not  slow  to  iden- 
tify him  with  St.  Thomas,  the  Apostle.  When  an  almost 
identical  story  was  found  throughout  Central  America,  the 
Andean  region,  and,  indeed,  wide-spread  in  South  America, 
the  same  explanation  was  adopted,  and  the  wanderings  of 
the  Saint  became  vast  beyond  the  dreams  of  Marco  Polo  or 
any  other  vaunted  traveller,  while  memorials  of  his  miracles 
are  still  displayed  in  regions  as  remote  from  Mexico  as  the 
basin  of  La  Plata.  Naturally,  too,  the  interest  of  the  subject 
has  not  waned  with  time,  for  whether  we  view  the  Quetzal- 
coatl  myth  in  relation  to  its  association  with  European  ideas 
or  with  respect  to  its  aboriginal  analogues  in  the  two  Americas, 
it  presents  a  variety  of  interest  scarcely  equalled  by  any  other 
tale  of  the  New  World. 

The  name  of  the  god  is  formed  of  quetzal,  designating  the 
long,  green  tail-plumes  of  Pharomacrus  mocinno,  and  coatl 
("serpent");  it  means,  therefore,  "the  Green-Feather  Snake," 
and  immediately  puts  Quetzalcoatl  into  the  group  of  celestial 


68  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

powers  of  which  the  plumed  serpent  is  a  symbol,  among  the 
Hopi  and  Zuiii  to  the  north  as  well  as  among  Andean  peoples 
far  to  the  south.  Sahagun  says  that  Quetzalcoatl  is  a  wind- 
god,  who  "sweeps  the  roads  for  the  rain-gods,  that  they  may 
rain."  Quetzal-plumes  were  a  symbol  of  greening  vegetation, 
and  it  is  altogether  probable  that  the  Plumed  Serpent-God  was 
originally  a  deity  of  rain-clouds,  the  sky-serpent  embodiment 
of  the  rainbow  or  the  lightning.  The  turquoise  snake-mask 
or  bird-mask,  characteristic  of  the  god,  is  surely  an  emblem 
of  the  skies,  and  like  other  sky-gods  he  carries  a  serpent- 
shaped  spear-thrower.  The  beard  (which  other  Mexican 
deities  sometimes  wear)  is  perhaps  a  symbol  of  descending 
rain,  perhaps  (as  on  some  Navaho  figures)  of  pollen,  or  fer- 
tilization. Curiously  enough,  Quetzalcoatl  is  not  commonly 
shown  as  the  white  god  which  the  tradition  would  lead  us  to 
expect,  but  typically  with  a  dark-hued  body;  it  may  be  that 
the  dark  hue  and  the  robe  of  legend  are  both  emblems  of 
rain-clouds. 

The  tradition  of  his  whiteness  may  come  from  his  stellar 
associations,  for  though  he  is  sometimes  shown  with  emblems 
of  moon  or  sun,  he  is  more  particularly  identified  with  the 
morning  star.  According  to  the  Annals  of  Quauhtitlan,  Quet- 
zalcoatl, when  driven  from  Tollan,  immolated  himself  on  the 
shores  of  the  eastern  sea,  and  from  his  ashes  rose  birds  with 
shining  feathers  (symbols  of  warrior  souls  mounting  to  the 
sun),  while  his  heart  became  the  Morning  Star,  wandering 
for  eight  days  in  the  underworld  before  it  ascended  in  splendour. 
In  numerous  legends  Quetzalcoatl  is  associated  with  Tez- 
catlipoca,  commonly  as  an  antagonist;  and  if  we  may  believe 
one  tale,  recounted  by  Mendieta,  Tezcatlipoca,  defeating 
Quetzalcoatl  in  ball-play  (a  game  directly  symbolic  of  the 
movements  of  the  heavenly  orbs),  cast  him  out  of  the  land  into 
the  east,  where  he  encountered  the  sun  and  was  burned.  This 
story  (clearly  a  variant  of  the  tale  of  the  banishment  of  Quet- 
zalcoatl told  in  the  Annals  of  Quauhtitlan  and  by  Sahagun)  is 


MEXICO  69 

interpreted  by  Seler  as  a  myth  of  the  morning  moon,  driven 
back  by  night  (the  dark  Tezcatlipoca)  to  be  consumed  by  the 
rising  sun.  A  reverse  story  represents  Tezcatlipoca,  the  sun, 
as  stricken  down  by  the  club  of  Quetzalcoatl,  transformed 
into  a  jaguar,  the  man-devouring  demon  of  night,  while 
Quetzalcoatl  becomes  sun  in  his  place.  Normally  Quetzal- 
coatl is  a  god  of  the  eastern  heavens,  and  sometimes  he  is  pic- 
tured as  the  caryatid  or  upbearer  of  the  sky  of  that  quarter. 

Perhaps  it  is  in  this  character  that  he  was  conceived  as  a 
lord  of  life,  a  meaning  naturally  intensified  by  his  association 
with  the  rejuvenating  rains  and  with  the  wind,  which  is  the 
breath  of  life.  A  woman  who  had  become  pregnant  was 
praised  by  the  relatives  of  her  husband  for  her  faithfulness  in 
religious  devotions.  "It  is  for  these,"  they  said,  "that  our 
lord  Quetzalcoatl,  author  and  creator,  has  vouchsafed  this 
grace  —  even  as  it  was  decreed  in  the  sky  by  that  one  who  is 
man  and  woman  under  the  names  Ometecutli  and  Omeciuatl." 
Moreover  the  new-born  was  addressed:  "Little  son  and  lord, 
person  of  high  value,  of  great  price  and  esteem!  0  precious 
stone,  emerald,  topaz,  rare  plume,  fruit  of  lofty  generation! 
be  welcome  among  us!  Thou  hast  been  formed  in  the  highest 
places,  above  the  ninth  heaven,  where  the  two  supreme  gods 
dwell.  The  Divine  Majesty  hath  cast  thee  in  his  mould,  as 
one  casts  a  golden  bead;  thou  hast  been  pierced,  like  a  rich 
stone  artistically  wrought,  by  thy  father  and  mother,  the 
great  god  and  the  great  goddess,  assisted  by  their  son,  Quet- 
zalcoatl." The  deity  also  figures  as  a  world  creator,  as  in  the 
Sahagun  manuscript  in  the  Academia  de  la  Historia,  from 
which  Seler  translates : 

"And  thus  said  our  fathers,  our  grandfathers, 
They  said  that  he  made,  created,  and  formed  us 
Whose  creatures  we  are,  Topiltzin  Quetzalcoatl; 
And  he  made  the  heavens,  the  sun,  the  earth." 

It  is  in  another  character,  however,  that  Quetzalcoatl  is 
romantically  of  most  interest.  His  cult  was  less  sanguinary 


70  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

than  that  of  most  Aztec  divinities,  though  assuredly  not  an- 
tagonistic to  human  sacrifice,  as  some  traditions  say.  He  was  a 
penance-inflicting  god,  perhaps  particularly  a  deity  of  priests 
and  their  lore;  yet  he  was  also  associated  with  education  and 
the  rearing  of  the  young.  He  is  named  as  the  patron  of  the 
arts,  the  teacher  of  metallurgy  and  of  letters,  and  in  tradition 
he  is  the  god  of  the  cultured  people  of  yore  from  whom  the 
Aztec  derived  their  civilization.  A  part  of  the  story,  as  nar- 
rated by  Sahagun,  has  been  told:  how  Quetzalcoatl  was  the 
aged  and  wise  priest-king  of  Tollan,  driven  thence  by  the  magic 
and  guile  of  Tezcatlipoca  and  his  companions.  The  tale  goes 
on  to  tell  how  Quetzalcoatl,  chagrined  and  ailing,  resolved  to 
depart  from  his  kingdom  for  his  ancient  home,  Tlapallan.  He 
burned  his  houses  built  of  shell  and  silver,  buried  his  treasure, 
changed  the  cacao-trees  into  mesquite,  and  set  forth,  pre- 
ceded by  servants  in  the  form  of  birds  of  rich  plumage.  Com- 
ing to  Quauhtitlan,  he  demanded  a  mirror  and  gazing  into  it, 
he  said,  "I  am  old,"  wherefore  he  named  the  city  "the  old 
Quauhtitlan."  Seating  himself  at  another  place  and  gazing 
back  upon  Tollan,  as  he  wept,  his  tears  pierced  the  rock,  which 
also  bore  thenceforth  the  marks  where  his  hands  had  rested. 
He  encountered  certain  magicians,  who  demanded  of  him,  before 
they  would  let  him  pass,  the  arts  of  refining  silver,  of  working 
in  wood,  stone,  and  feathers,  and  of  painting;  and  as  he  crossed 
the  sierra,  all  his  companions,  who  were  dwarfs  and  hump- 
backs, died  of  the  cold.  Many  other  localities  received  memo- 
rials of  his  passage:  at  one  place  he  played  a  game  of  ball,  at 
another  shot  arrows  into  a  tree  so  that  they  formed  a  cross, 
at  another  caused  underworld  houses  to  be  built  —  all  clearly 
cosmic  symbols  —  and  finally  coming  to  the  sea,  he  departed 
for  Tlapallan  on  his  serpent-raft.  In  IxtlilxochitPs  history, 
Quetzalcoatl  first  appeared  in  the  third  period  of  the  world, 
taught  the  arts,  instituted  the  worship  of  the  cross  —  "tree  of 
nourishment  and  of  life"  —  and  ended  the  period  with  his 
departure.  Tradition  names  the  last  king  of  the  Toltec  "Topil- 


PLATE   IX 

Figures  from  the  Codex  Borgia,  representing  cos- 
mic tutelaries. 

The  upper  figure  represents  the  tree  of  the 
Middle  Place  rising  from  the  body  of  the  Earth 
Goddess,  recumbent  upon  the  spines  of  the  croco- 
dile from  which  Earth  was  made.  The  tree  is 
encircled  by  the  world  sea  and  is  surmounted  by 
the  Quetzal,  whose  plumage  typifies  vegetation; 
two  ears  of  maize  spring  up  at  its  roots.  The  at- 
tendant deities  are  Quetzalcoatl  and  Macuilxo- 
chitl,  both  symbols  of  fertility.  In  the  figure  they 
are  apparently  nourishing  themselves  on  the  up- 
flowing  blood,  or  vital  saps,  of  the  body  of  Earth. 
The  figure  should  be  compared  with  the  Palenque 
Cross  and  Foliate  Cross  tablets  (Plate  XVIII  a,  b). 
See,  also,  pages  57,  68,  77. 

The  lower  figure  represents  one  of  the  four  cary- 
atid-like supporters  of  the  heavens,  Huitzilopochtli, 
as  the  Atlas  of  the  southern  quarter.  See  page  57. 


MEXICO  71 

tzin  Quetzalcoatl,"  and  it  may  be  assumed  as  not  improbable 
that  stories  of  the  disasters  attending  the  fall  of  Tollan,  under 
a  king  bearing  the  name  of  the  ancient  divinity,  represent  an 
historical  element,  confused  with  nature  elements,  in  the 
myths  of  Quetzalcoatl,  —  such  an  assumption  accounting  for 
the  heroic  glamour  surrounding  the  god,  who,  like  King 
Arthur,  is  half  kingly  mortal,  half  divinity.  In  Cholula, 
whither  many  of  the  Toltec  were  said  to  have  fled  with  the 
fall  of  their  empire,  was  the  loftiest  pyramid  in  Mexico,  dedi- 
cated to  Quetzalcoatl  and  even  in  the  eyes  of  Aztec  conquerors 
a  seat  of  venerable  sanctities  —  the  emblem  of  the  culture 
whose  conquest  had  conquered  them. 

• 
4.  TLALOC  AND  CHALCHIUHTLICUEIS 

The  rain-god,  Tlaloc,  was  less  important  in  myth  than  in 
cult.  He  was  a  deity  of  great  antiquity,  and  a  mountain,  east 
of  Tezcuco,  bearing  his  name,  was  said  to  have  had  from  re- 
mote times  a  statue  of  the  god,  carved  in  white  lava.  His 
especial  abode,  Tlalocan,  supposed  to  be  upon  the  crests  of 
hills,  was  rich  in  all  foods  and  was  the  home  of  the  maize- 
goddesses;  and  there,  with  his  dwarf  (or  child)  servants, 
Tlaloc  possesses  four  jars  from  which  he  pours  water  down 
upon  the  earth.  One  water  is  good  and  causes  maize  and  other 
fruits  to  flourish;  a  second  brings  cobwebs  and  blight;  a  third 
congeals  into  frost;  a  fourth  is. followed  by  dearth  of  fruit. 
These  are  the  waters  of  the  four  quarters,  and  only  that  of 
the  east  is  good.  When  the  dwarfs  smash  their  jars,  there  is 
thunder;  and  pieces  cast  below  are  thunderbolts.  The  number 
of  the  Tlaloque  was  regarded  as  great,  so  that,  indeed,  every 
mountain  had  its  Tlaloc. 

Like  Quetzalcoatl,  the  god  was  shown  with  a  serpent-mask, 
except  that  Tlaloc's  was  formed,  not  of  one,  but  of  two  ser- 
pents; and  from  the  conventionalization  of  the  serpentine 
coils  of  this  mask  came  the  customary  representation  of  the 


72  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

god's  eyes  as  surrounded  by  wide,  blue  circles,  and  of  his  lip 
as  formed  by  a  convoluted  band  from  which  are  fanglike  de- 
pendencies. The  double-headed  serpent  —  a  symbol  no  less 
wide-spread  than  the  plumed  serpent  —  is  frequently  his 
attribute.  His  association  with  mountains  brought  him  also 
into  connexion  with  volcanoes  and  fire,  and  it  was  he  who  was 
said  to  have  presided  over  the  Rain-Sun,  one  of  the  cosmo- 
gonic  epochs,  during  which  there  rained,  not  water,  but  fire 
and  red-hot  stones. 

The  worship  of  Tlaloc  was  among  the  most  ghastly  in 
Mexico.  Perhaps  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  the  number  of 
his  rain-dwarfs,  children  were  constantly  sacrificed  to  him. 
If  we  may  believe  Sahagun,  at  the  feast  of  the  Tlaloque  "they 
sought  out  a  great  number  of  babes  at  the  breast,  which  they 
purchased  of  their  mothers.  They  chose  by  preference  those 
who  had  two  crowns  in  their  hair  and  who  had  been  born 
under  a  good  sign.  They  pretended  that  these  would  form  a 
more  agreeable  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  to  the  end  that  they  might 
obtain  rain  at  the  opportune  time.  .  .  .  They  killed  a  great 
number  of  babes  each  year;  and  after  they  had  put  them  to 
death,  they  cooked  and  ate  them.  ...  If  the  children  wept 
and  shed  tears  abundantly,  those  who  beheld  it  rejoiced  and 
said  that  this  was  a  sign  of  rain  very  near."  No  wonder  the 
brave  friar  turns  from  his  narrative  to  cry  out  against  such 
horror.  Yet,  he  says,  "the  cause  of  this  cruel  blindness,  of 
which  the  poor  children  were  victims,  should  not  be  directly 
imputed  to  the  natural  inspirations  of  their  parents,  who,  in- 
deed, shed  abundant  tears  and  delivered  themselves  to  the 
practice  with  dolour  of  soul ;  one  should  rather  see  therein  the 
hateful  and  barbarous  hand  of  Satan,  our  eternal  enemy,  em- 
ploying all  his  malign  ruses  to  urge  on  to  this  fatal  act." 
Unfortunately,  it  is  to  be  suspected  that  the  rite  was  very  far- 
spread,  for  in  the  myths  of  many  of  the  wild  Mexican  tribes 
and  even  in  those  of  the  Pueblo  tribes  north  of  Mexico  the 
story  of  the  sacrifice  of  children  to  the  water-gods  constantly 


MEXICO  73 

recurs  —  though,  perhaps,  this  was  but  the  far-cast  rumour 
of  the  terrible  superstition  of  the  south. 

The  goddess  of  flowing  waters,  of  springs  and  rivulets,  Chal- 
chiuhtlicue,  was  regarded  as  sister  of  the  Tlaloque  and  was 
frequently  honoured  in  rites  in  connexion  with  them.  Like 
Tlaloc,  she  played  no  minor  role  in  the  calendric  division  of 
powers,  and  she  also  ruled  over  one  of  the  "  Suns "  of  the  cos- 
mogonic  period.  Serpents  and  maize  were  associated  with 
her,  and  like  the  similar  deities  she  had  both  her  beneficent  and 
malevolent  moods,  being  not  merely  a  cleanser,  but  also  a 
cause  of  shipwreck  and  watery  deaths.  At  the  bathing  of  the 
new-born  she  was  addressed:  "Merciful  Lady  Chalchiuhtlicue, 
thy  servant  here  present  is  come  into  this  world,  sent  by  our 
father  and  mother,  Ometecutli  and  Omeciuatl,  who  reside  at 
the  ninth  heaven.  We  know  not  what  gifts  he  bringeth;  we 
know  not  what  hath  been  assigned  to  him  from  before  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world,  nor  with  what  lot  he  cometh  enveloped. 
We  know  not  if  this  lot  be  good  or  bad,  or  to  what  end  he  will 
be  followed  by  ill  fortune.  We  know  not  what  faults  or  de- 
fects he  may  inherit  from  his  father  and  mother.  Behold  him 
between  thy  hands!  Wash  him  and  deliver  him  from  impuri- 
ties as  thou  knowest  should  be,  for  he  is  confided  to  thy  power. 
Cleanse  him  of  the  contaminations  he  hath  received  from  his 
parents;  let  the  water  take  away  the  soil  and  the  stain,  and 
let  him  be  freed  from  all  taint.  May  it  please  thee,  0  goddess, 
that  his  heart  and  his  life  be  purified,  that  he  may  dwell  in 
this  world  in  peace  and  wisdom.  May  this  water  take  away 
all  ills,  for  which  this  babe  is  put  into  thy  hands,  thou  who 
art  mother  and  sister  of  the  gods,  and  who  alone  art  worthy 
to  possess  it  and  to  give  it,  to  wash  from  him  the  evils  which  he 
beareth  from  before  the  beginning  of  the  world.  Deign  to  do 
this  that  we  ask,  now  that  the  child  is  in  thy  presence."  It 
is  not  difficult  to  see  how  this  rite  should  have  suggested  to 
the  first  missionaries  their  own  Christian  sacrament  of  baptism. 


74  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

V.  THE  POWERS  OF  LIFE16 

Universally  Earth  is  the  mythic  Mother  of  Gods  and  Men, 
and  Giver  of  Life;  nor  does  the  Mexican  pantheon  offer  an 
exception  to  the  rule,  although  its  embodiments  of  the  Earth 
Mother  possess  associations  which  give  a  character  of  their 
own.  Like  similar  goddesses,  the  Mexican  Earth  Mothers 
are  prophetic  and  divinatory,  and  in  various  forms  they  appear 
in  the  calendric  omen-books.  They  are  goddesses  of  medicine, 
too,  probably  owing  this  function  primarily  to  their  associa- 
tion with  the  sweat-bath,  which,  in  its  primitive  form  of  earth- 
lodge  and  heated  stones,  is  the  fundamental  instrument  of 
American  Indian  therapeutics.  It  is  here,  possibly,  that 
these  goddesses  get  their  connexion  with  the  fire-gods,  of 
whom  they  are  not  infrequently  consorts,  and  with  whom  they 
share  the  butterfly  insignia  —  a  symbol  of  fertility,  for  the 
fire-god,  at  earth's  centre,  was  believed  to  generate  the  warmth 
of  life.  Serpents  also  are  signs  of  the  earth  goddesses,  not  the 
plumed  serpents  of  the  skies,  but  underworld  powers,  like- 
wise associated  with  generation  in  Aztec  symbolism.  A  third 
animal  connected  with  generation,  and  hence  with  these 
deities,  is  the  deer  —  the  white,  dead  Deer  of  the  East  de- 
noted plenty;  the  stricken,  brown  Deer  of  the  North  was  a 
symbol  of  drought,  and  related  to  the  fire-gods.  The  eagle, 
also,  is  sometimes  found  associated  with  the  goddesses  by  a 
process  of  indirection,  for  the  eagle  is  primarily  the  heavenly 
warrior,  Tonatiuh,  the  Sun.  Frequently,  however,  the  earth 
goddess  is  a  war-goddess;  Coatlicue,  mother  of  the  war-god 
Huitzilopochtli,  is  an  earth  deity,  wearing  the  serpent  skirt; 
and  it  was  a  wide-spread  belief  among  the  Mexicans  that  the 
Earth  was  the  first  victim  offered  on  the  sacrificial  stone  to  the 
Sun  —  the  first,  therefore,  to  die  a  warrior's  death.  When  a 
victim  was  dedicated  for  sacrifice,  therefore,  his  captor  adorned 
himself  in  eagle's  down  in  honour,  at  once,  of  the  Sun  and  of 
the  goddess  who  had  been  the  primal  offering. 


MEXICO  75 

Among  the  earth  goddesses  the  most  famous  was  Ciuacoatl 
("Snake  Woman"),  whose  voice,  roaring  through  the  night, 
betokened  war.  She  was  also  called  Tonantzin  ("Our  Mother") 
and,  Sahagun  says,  "these  two  circumstances  give  her  a  re- 
semblance to  our  mother  Eve  who  was  duped  by  the  Ser- 
pent." Other  names  for  the  same  divinity  were  Ilamatecutli 
("the  Old  Goddess"),  sometimes  represented  as  the  Earth 
Toad,  Tlatecutli,  swallowing  a  stone  knife;  Itzpapalotl  ("Ob- 
sidian Butterfly"),  occasionally  shown  as  a  deer;  Temazcal- 
teci  ("Grandmother  of  the  Sweat-Bath");  and  Teteoinnan, 
the  Mother  of  the  Gods,  who,  like  several  other  of  the  earth 
goddesses,  was  also  a  lunar  deity.  In  her  honour  a  harvest- 
home  was  celebrated  in  which  her  Huastec  priests  (for  she 
probably  hailed  from  the  eastern  coast)  bore  phallic  emblems. 

Closely  connected  with  the  earth  goddesses  are  their  chil- 
dren, the  vegetation-deities.  Of  these  the  maize-spirits  are 
the  most  important,  maize  being  the  great  cereal  of  the  high- 
land region,  and,  indeed,  so  much  the  "corn"  of  primitive 
America  that  the  latter  word  has  come  to  mean  maize  in  the 
English-speaking  parts  of  the  New  World.  Cinteotl  was  the 
maize-god,  and  Chicomecoatl  ("Seven  Snakes"),  also  known 
as  Xilonen,  was  his  female  counterpart,  their  symbol  being 
the  young  maize-ear.  Because  of  the  use  of  maize  as  the  staff 
of  life,  a  crown  filled  with  this  grain  was  the  symbol  of  Tona- 
catecutli  ("Lord  of  our  Flesh"),  creator-god  and  food-giver. 
Pedro  de  Rios  says  17  of  him  that  he  was  "the  first  Lord  that 
the  world  was  said  to  have  had,  and  who,  as  it  pleased  him, 
blew  and  divided  the  waters  from  the  heaven  and  from  the 
earth,  which  before  him  were  all  intermingled;  and  he  it  is 
who  disposed  them  as  they  now  are,  and  so  they  called  him 
'Lord  of  our  Bodies'  and  'Lord  of  the  Overflow';  and  he  gave 
them  all  things,  and  therefore  he  alone  was  pictured  with  the 
royal  crown.  He  was  further  called  'Seven  Flowers'  [Chico- 
mexochitl],  because  they  said  that  he  divided  the  principali- 
ties of  the  world.  He  had  no  temple  of  any  kind,  nor  were 


76  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

offerings  brought  to  him,  because  they  say  he  desired  them 
not,  as  it  were  to  a  greater  Majesty."  This  god  was  also 
identified  with  the  Milky  Way. 

Of  all  Mexican  vegetation-deities,  however,  at  once  the 
most  important  and  the  most  horrible  was  Xipe  Totec  ("Our 
Lord  the  Flayed"),  represented  as  clad  in  a  human  skin, 
stripped  from  the  body  of  a  sacrificed  captive.  He  was  the  god 
of  the  renewal  of  vegetation  —  the  fresh  skin  which  Earth 
receives  with  the  recurrent  green  —  and  his  great  festival,  the 
Feast  of  the  Man-Flaying,  was  held  in  the  spring  when  the 
fresh  verdure  was  appearing.  At  this  time,  men,  women,  and 
children  captives  were  sacrificed,  their  bodies  eaten,  and  the 
skins  flayed  from  them  to  be  worn  by  personators  of  the  god. 
That  there  was  a  kind  of  sacrament  in  this  rite  is  evident  from 
Sahagun's  statement  that  the  captor  did  not  partake  of  the 
flesh  of  his  own  captive,  regarding  it  as  part  of  his  own  body. 
Again,  youths  clad  in  skins  flayed  from  sacrificed  warriors 
were  called  by  the  god's  own  name,  and  they  waged  mimic 
warfare  with  bands  pitted  against  them;  if  a  captive  was 
made,  a  mock  sacrifice  was  enacted.  The  famous  sacrificio 
gladiatorio  was  also  celebrated  in  the  god's  honour,  the  victim, 
with  weak  weapons,  being  pitted  against  strong  warriors 
until  he  succumbed.  The  magic  properties  of  the  skins  torn 
from  victims'  bodies  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  persons  suffer- 
ing from  diseases  of  the  skin  and  eye  wore  these  trophies  for 
their  healing,  the  period  being  twenty  days.  Xipe  Totec  was 
clad  in  a  green  garment,  but  yellow  was  his  predominant 
colour;  his  ornaments  were  golden,  and  he  was  the  patron  of 
gold-workers  —  a  symbolism  probably  related  to  the  ripening 
grain,  for  with  all  that  is  horrible  about  him  Xipe  Totec  is 
at  bottom  a  simple  agricultural  deity.  At  his  festival  were 
stately  areitos,  and  songs  were  chanted,  one  of  which  is  pre- 
served : 18 

"Thou  night-time  drinker,  why  dost  thou  delay? 
Put  on  thy  disguise  —  thy  golden  garment,  put  it  on! 


PLATE  X 

Stone  mask  of  Xipe  Totec.  The  face  is  repre- 
sented as  covered  by  the  skin  of  a  sacrificed  victim, 
flaying  being  a  rite  with  which  this  god  was  honored. 
The  reverse  of  the  mask  bears  an  image  of  the  god 
in  relief.  The  original  is  in  the  British  Museum. 


MEXICO  77 

"My  Lord,  let  thine  emerald  waters  come  descending! 
Now  is  the  old  tree  changed  to  green  plumage  — 
The  Fire-Snake  is  transformed  into  the  Quetzal! 

"  It  may  be  that  I  am  to  die,  I,  the  young  maize-plant; 
Like  an  emerald  is  my  heart;  gold  would  I  see  it  be; 
I  shall  be  happy  when  first  it  is  ripe  —  the  war-chief  born! 

"My  Lord,  when  there  is  abundance  in  the  maize-fields, 
I  shall  look  to  thy  mountains,  verily  thy  worshipper; 
I  shall  be  happy  when  first  it  is  ripe  —  the  war-chief  born!" 

Less  unattractive  is  the  group  of  deities  of  flowers  and 
dancing,  games  and  feasting  —  Xochipilli  ("Flower  Lord"), 
Macuilxochitl  ("Five  Blossoms"),  and  Ixtlilton  ("Little 
Black-Face").  Xochipilli  is  in  part  a  divinity  of  the  young 
maize,  probably  as  pollinating,  and  is  sometimes  viewed  as  a 
son  of  Cinteotl.  As  is  natural,  he  and  his  brothers  are  occa- 
sionally associated  with  the  pulque-gods,  the  Centzontotochtin, 
of  whom  there  were  a  great  number  —  among  them  Patecatl, 
lord  and  discoverer  of  the  ocpatli  (the  peyote)  from  which 
liquor  is  made,  Texcatzoncatl  ("Straw  Mirror"),  Colhuatzin- 
catl  ("the  Winged"),  and  Ometochtli  ("Two  Rabbit")  - 
deities  who  were  supposed  to  possess  their  worshippers  and 
to  be  the  real  agents  of  the  drunken  man's  mischief.  The  more 
especial  associate  of  the  flower-gods,  however,  is  Xochiquetzal 
("Flower  Feather"),  who  is  said  to  have  been  originally  the 
spouse  of  Tlaloc,  but  to  have  been  carried  away  by  Tezcatli- 
poca  and  to  have  been  established  by  him  as  the  goddess  of 
love.  Her  throne  is  described  as  being  above  the  ninth  heaven, 
and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  in  this  role  she  is  identical 
with  Tonacaciuatl,  the  consort  of  the  creator-god,  Tonacate- 
cutli.19  Her  home  was  in  Xochitlicacan  ("Place  of  Flowers")  in 
Itzeecayan  ("Place  of  Cool  Winds"),  or  in  Tamoanchan,  the 
Paradise  of  the  West  —  the  region  whence  came  the  Ciuateteo, 
the  ghostly  women  who  at  certain  seasons  swooped  down  in 
eagles'  form,  striking  children  with  epilepsy  and  inspiring 


78  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

men  with  lust.  Xochiquetzal  was,  indeed,  the  patroness  of 
the  unmarried  women  who  lived  with  the  young  bachelor 
warriors  and  marched  to  war  with  them,  and  who  sometimes, 
at  the  goddess's  festival,  immolated  themselves  upon  her 
altars.  In  a  more  pleasing  aspect  she  was  the  deity  of  weaving 
and  spinning  and  of  making  all  beautiful  and  artistic  fabrics, 
and  she  is  portrayed  in  bright  and  many-coloured  raiment, 
not  forgetting  the  butterfly  at  her  lips,  emblem  of  life  and  of 
the  seeker  after  sweets.  In  a  hymn  20  she  is  named  along  with 
her  lover,  Piltzintecutli  ("Lord  of  Princes"),  who  is  presumed 
to  be  the  same  as  Xochipilli: 

"Out  of  the  land  of  water  and  mist,  I  come,  Xochiquetzal  — 
Out  of  the  land  where  the  Sun  enters  his  house,  out  of  Tamoanchan. 

"Weepeth  the  pious  Piltzintecutli; 
He  seeketh  Xochiquetzal. 
Dark  it  is  whither  I  must  go." 

Seler  suggests  that  this  lamentation  is  perchance  the  expres- 
sion of  a  Proserpina  myth  —  of  the  carrying  off  into  the  un- 
derworld of  the  bright  goddess  of  flowers  and  of  the  quest  for 
her  by  her  disconsolate  lover. 

Of  far  darker  hue  is  the  goddess  whom  Sahagun 21  calls 
"another  Venus,"  Tlazolteotl  ("Goddess  of  Uncleanliness"), 
the  deity  in  particular  of  lust  and  sexual  sin.  To  her  priests 
confession  was  made  of  carnal  sins  and  drunkenness,  and  by 
them  penance  was  inflicted,  including  as  a  feature  piercing 
the  tongue  with  a  maguey  thorn  and  the  insertion  therein  of 
straws  and  osier  twigs.  Sahagun  remarks  that  the  Indians 
awaited  old  age  before  confessing  carnal  sins,  "a  thing  easy 
to  comprehend,  since,  although  they  had  committed  their 
faults  during  youth,  they  would  not  confess  before  an  ad- 
vanced age  in  order  not  to  find  themselves  obliged  to  cease 
from  disorderly  conduct  before  age  came  upon  them;  this,  be- 
cause of  their  belief  that  one  who  fell  into  a  sin  already  once 
confessed  could  receive  no  absolution.  From  all  of  which," 


MEXICO  79 

he  continues,  "it  is  natural  to  reach  the  conclusion  that  the 
Indians  of  New  Spain  believed  themselves  obliged  to  confess 
once  in  their  lifetime,  and  that  in  lumine  naturali,  with  no 
knowledge  of  the  things  of  the  faith."  One  of  the  titles  of 
Tlazolteotl  is  "Heart  of  the  Earth,"  and  since  she  is  represented 
in  the  same  attire  as  the  great  mother  of  the  gods,  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  she  is  a  special  form  of  the  Earth  Mother,  Te- 
teoinnan,  with  emphasis  upon  her  character  as  deity  of  fer- 
tility. Sometimes  she  is  spoken  of  as  Ixcuiname  ("the  Four- 
faced")  and  is  regarded  plurally  as  a  group  of  four  sisters 
who,  according  to  Sahagun,  represent  four  ages  of  woman's 
maturity..  In  the  Annals  of  Quauhtitlan  it  is  related  that  the 
Ixcuiname  came  to  Tollan  from  Huasteca.  "And  in  the  place 
called  Where-the-Huaxtec-weep  they  summoned  their  cap- 
tives, whom  they  had  taken  in  Huaxteca,  and  explained  to 
them  what  the  business  was,  telling  them  that,  'We  go  now 
to  Tollan,  we  want  to  couple  the  Earth  with  you,  we  want  to 
hold  a  feast  with  you:  for  till  now  no  battle  offerings  have 
been  made  with  men.  We  want  to  make  a  beginning  of  it, 
and  shoot  you  to  death  with  arrows. ""  In  Aztec  paintings  of 
the  arrow  sacrifice  the  victim  is  shown  suspended  from  a 
ladder-like  scaffold,  whence  the  blood  from  the  arrow  wounds 
drips  to  earth.  This  blood  was  the  emblem  of  the  fertilizing 
seed,  dropped  into  the  womb  of  the  goddess;  and  it  is  at  least 
worthy  of  remark  that  the  form  of  the  Skidi  Pawnee  fertility 
sacrifice,  in  honour  of  the  Morning  Star,  was  identical,  scaf- 
fold and  all,  with  that  in  vogue  in  Mexico. 

VI.  THE  POWERS  OF  DEATH 

Earth,  the  Great  Mother,  is  a  giver  of  life,  but  Earth,  the 
cavernous,  is  Lord  of  Death.  The  Mexicans  are  second  to  no 
people  in  the  grimness  of  their  representations  of  this  power. 
As  Tepeyollotl  ("Heart  of  the  Mountain"),  earth's  cavern, 
it  is  the  spotted  jaguar  monster  which  leaps  up  out  of  the 


8o  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

west  to  seize  the  declining  sun,  and  its  roars  may  be  heard 
in  the  echoing  hills.  As  Tlaltecutli  ("Lord  of  the  Earth") 
it  is  the  hideous  Toad  with  Gaping  Jaws,  which  must  be 
nourished  with  the  blood  of  sacrificed  men,  precisely  as  the 
Sun  above  must  be  nurtured;  for  the  Mexican  idea  of  warfare 
seems  to  have  been  that  it  must  be  waged  to  keep  perpetual 
the  ascending  vapours  and  the  descending  flow  from  the 
hearts  of  sacrificed  victims,  that  Tonatiuh  and  Tlaltecutli 
might  gain  sustenance  in  heaven  and  in  earth.22 

But  the  grimmest  figure  is  that  of  Hades  himself,  Mictlan- 
tecutli,  the  skeleton  God  of  the  Dead  —  also  called,  says 
Sahagun,  Tzontemoc  ("He  of  the  Falling  Hair").  Sahagun 
describes  the  journey  to  the  abode  of  this  divinity.  When  a 
mortal  —  man,  woman,  child,  lord,  or  thrall  —  died  of  disease, 
his  soul  descended  to  Mictlan,  and  beside  the  corpse  the  last 
words  were  spoken:23  "Our  son,  thou  art  finished  with  the 
sufferings  and  fatigues  of  this  life.  It  hath  pleased  Our  Lord 
to  take  thee  hence,  for  thou  hast  not  eternal  life  in  this  world : 
our  existence  is  as  a  ray  of  the  sun.  He  hath  given  thee  the 
grace  of  knowing  us  and  of  associating  in  our  common  life. 
Now  the  god  Mictlantecutli,  otherwise  called  Acolnauacatl 
or  Tzontemoc,  as  also  the  goddess  Mictecaciuatl,  hath  made 
thee  to  share  his  abode.  We  shall  all  follow  thee,  for  it  is  our 
destiny,  and  the  abode  is  broad  enough  to  receive  the  whole 
world.  Thou  wilt  be  heard  of  no  longer  among  us.  Behold, 
thou  art  gone  to  the  domain  of  darkness,  where  there  is  neither 
light  nor  window.  Never  shalt  thou  come  hither  again,  nor 
needst  thou  concern  thyself  for  thy  return,  for  thine  absence 
is  eternal.  Thou  dost  leave  thy  children  poor  and  orphaned, 
not  knowing  what  will  be  their  end  nor  how  they  will  support 
the  fatigues  of  this  life.  As  for  us,  we  shall  not  delay  to  go  to 
join  thee  there  where  thou  wilt  be."  Similar  words  were  spoken 
to  the  relatives:  "Hath  this  death  come  because  some  being 
wisheth  us  ill  or  mocketh  us  ?  Nay,  it  is  because  Our  Lord  hath 
willed  that  such  be  his  end."  Then  the  body  was  wrapped, 


• 


8o  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

west  to  seize  the  declining  sun,  and  its  roars  may  be  heard 
in  the  echoing  hills.  As  Tlaltecutli  ("Lord  of  the  Earth") 
it  is  the  hideous  Toad  with  Gaping  Jaws,  which  must  be 
nourished  with  the  blood  of  sacrificed  men,  precisely  as  the 
Sun  above  must  be  nurtured;  for  the  Mexican  idea  of  warfare 
seems  to  have  been  that  it  must  be  waged  to  keep  perpetual 
the  ascending  vapours  and  the  descending  flow  from  the 
hearts  of  sacrificed  victims,  that  Tonatiuh  and  Tlaltecutli 
might  gain  sustenance  in  heaven  and  in  earth.22 

But  the  grimmest  figure  is  that  of  Hades  himself,  Mictlan- 
tecutli,  the  skeleton  God  of  the  Dead  —  also  called,  says 
Sahagun,  Tzontemoc  ("He  of  the  Falling  Hair").  Sahagun 
describes  the  journey  to  the  abode  of  this  divinity.  When  a 
mortal  —  man,  woman,  child,  lord,  or  thrall  —  died  of  disease, 
his  soul  descended  to  Mictlan,  and  beside  the  corpse  the  last 
words  were  spoken:23  "Our  son,  thou  art  finished  with  the 
sufferings  and  fatigues  of  this  life.  It  hath  pleased  Our  Lord 
to  take  thee  hence,  for  thou  hast  not  eternal  life  in  this  world : 
our  existence  is  as  a  ray  of  the  sun.  He  hath  given  thee  the 
grace  of  knowing  us  and  of  associating  in  our  common  life. 
Now  the  god  Mictlantecutli,  otherwise  called  Acolnauacatl 
or  Tzontemoc,  as  also  the  goddess  Mictecaciuatl,  hath  made 
thee  to  share  his  abode.  We  shall  all  follow  thee,  for  it  is  our 
destiny,  and  the  abode  is  broad  enough  to  receive  the  whole 
world.  Thou  wilt  be  heard  of  no  longer  among  us.  Behold, 
thou  art  gone  to  the  domain  of  darkness,  where  there  is  neither 
light  nor  window.  Never  shalt  thou  come  hither  again,  nor 
needst  thou  concern  thyself  for  thy  return,  for  thine  absence 
is  eternal.  Thou  dost  leave  thy  children  poor  and  orphaned, 
not  knowing  what  will  be  their  end  nor  how  they  will  support 
the  fatigues  of  this  life.  As  for  us,  we  shall  not  delay  to  go  to 
join  thee  there  where  thou  wilt  be."  Similar  words  were  spoken 
to  the  relatives:  "Hath  this  death  come  because  some  being 
wisheth  us  ill  or  mocketh  us  ?  Nay,  it  is  because  Our  Lord  hath 
willed  that  such  be  his  end."  Then  the  body  was  wrapped, 


PLATE  XI 

Green  stone  image  of  Mictlantecutli,  the  skeleton 
god  of  death  and  of  the  underworld.  The  original 
is  in  the  Stuttgart  Museum. 


MEXICO  8 1 

mummy-form,  and  a  few  drops  of  water  were  poured  upon  the 
head:  "Lo,  the  water  of  which  thou  hast  made  use  in  this 
life";  and  a  vessel  of  water  was  presented:  "This  for  thy 
journey."  Next,  certain  papers  were  laid  before  the  body  in 
due  order:  "Lo,  with  this  thou  shalt  pass  the  two  clashing 
mountains."  "With  this  thou  shalt  pass  the  road  where  the 
serpent  awaiteth  thee."  "With  this  thou  shalt  pass  the  place 
of  the  green  lizard."  "Lo,  wherewithal  thou  shalt  cross  the 
eight  deserts."  "And  the  eight  hills."  "And  behold  with 
what  thou  canst  traverse  the  place  of  the  winds  that  bear  ob- 
sidian knives."  Thus  the  perils  of  the  underworld  were  to  be 
passed  and  the  soul,  arrived  before  Mictlantecutli,  was,  after 
four  years,  to  fare  on  until  he  should  arrive  at  Chiconauapan, 
the  "Nine-Fold  Stream"  of  the  underworld.  Across  this  he 
would  be  borne  by  the  red  dog  which,  sacrificed  at  his  grave, 
had  been  his  faithful  companion;  and  thence  master  and 
hound  would  enter  into  the  eternal  house  of  the  dead,  Chico- 
namictlan,  the  "Ninth  Hell." 

Yet  not  all  who  died  pursued  this  journey.  To  the  terres- 
trial paradise,  Tlalocan,  the  abode  of  Tlaloc,  rich  with  every 
kind  of  fruit  and  abundant  with  joys,  departed  those  slain  by 
lightning,  the  drowned,  victims  of  skin-diseases,  and  persons 
who  died  of  dropsical  affections  —  a  heterogeneous  lot  whose 
company  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  various  attributes  of  the  rain- 
gods.  With  them  should  be  included  victims  sacrificed  to 
these  deities,  who  perhaps  themselves  became  rain-makers 
and  servants  of  the  Lords  of  the  Rain.  More  fortunate  still 
were  they  who  ascended  to  the  mansions  of  the  Sun  —  those 
who  fell  in  war,  those  who  perished  on  the  sacrificial  altar  or 
were  sacrificed  by  burning,  and  women  who  died  in  child- 
birth. Those  warriors,  it  was  said,  whose  shields  had  been 
pierced  could  behold  the  Sun  through  the  holes;  to  the 
others  Tonatiuh  was  invisible;  but  all  entered  into  the  sky 
gardens,  whose  trees  were  other  than  those  of  this  world; 
and  there,  after  four  years,  they  were  transformed  into 


82  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

birds  of  bright  plumage,  drawing  the  honey  from  the  celestial 
blossoms. 

It  was  in  the  eastern  heavens  that  the  souls  of  warriors 
found  their  paradise.  Here  they  met  the  Sun  as  he  rose  in  the 
morning,  striking  their  bucklers  with  joyous  cries  and  ac- 
companying him  on  his  journey  to  the  meridian,  where  they 
were  encountered  by  the  War  Women  of  the  western  heavens, 
the  Ciuateteo,  or  Ciuapipiltin,  souls  of  women  who  had  gone 
to  war  or  had  died  in  childbed.  These  escorted  the  Sun 
down  the  western  sky,  bearing  him  on  a  gorgeous  palanquin, 
into  Tamoanchan  ("the  House  of  the  Descent").24  At  the 
portals  of  the  underworld  they  were  met  by  the  Lords  of 
Hell,  who  conducted  the  Sun  into  their  abode;  for  when  it  ceases 
to  be  day  here,  the  day  begins  in  the  realm  below.  Possibly  it 
was  from  this  association  with  the  underworld  powers  that 
the  Ciuateteo  acquired  their  sinister  traits,  for  they  were 
sometimes  identified  with  the  descending  stars,  the  Tzitzimime, 
which  follow  the  Sun's  descent  and  become  embodied  as 
Demons  of  the  Dark. 

But  the  Sun  has  yet  another  comrade  on  his  journey.  As 
the  soul  of  the  dead  Aztec  is  accompanied  and  guided  into  the 
nether  world  by  his  faithful  dog,  so  the  Sun  has  for  com- 
panion the  dog  Xolotl.  Xolotl  is  a  god  who  presides  over  the 
game  of  tlachtli,  the  Mexican  ball-game,  analogous  to  tennis, 
in  which  a  rubber  ball  was  bounced  back  and  forth  in  a  court, 
not  hurled  or  struck  by  hand,  but  by  shoulder  or  thigh.  As 
with  other  Indian  ball-games,  this  was  regarded  as  symbolic 
of  the  sun's  course,  and  Xolotl  was  said  to  play  the  game  on  a 
magic  court,  which  could  be  nothing  else  than  the  heavens. 
He  was,  moreover,  deity  of  twins  and  other  monstrous  forms 
(for  twins  were  regarded  as  monstrous),  and  it  was  hump- 
backs and  dwarfs  that  were  sacrificed  to  the  Sun  on  the  occa- 
sion of  an  eclipse,  when  it  was  deemed  that  the  solar  divinity 
had  need  of  them.  A  myth  narrated  by  Sahagun  possibly  ex- 
plains or  reflects  this  belief.  In  the  beginning  of  things  there 


MEXICO  83 

was  no  sun  and  no  moon;  but  two  of  the  gods  immolated 
themselves,  and  from  their  ashes  rose  the  orbs  of  night  and 
day,  although  neither  sun  nor  moon  as  yet  had  motion.  Then 
all  the  gods  resolved  to  sacrifice  themselves  in  order  to  give 
life  and  motion  to  the  heavenly  bodies.  Xolotl  alone  refused: 
"Gods,  I  will  not  die,"  he  said;  and  when  the  priest  of  the 
sacrifice  came,  he  fled,  transforming  himself  into  a  twin- 
stalked  maize  plant,  such  as  is  called  xolotlj  discovered,  he 
escaped  again  and  assumed  the  form  of  a  maguey  called 
mexolotl;  and  evading  capture  a  third  time,  he  entered  the 
water  and  became  a  larva,  axolotl  —  only  to  be  found  and 
offered  up.  A  second  version  of  the  legend,  recorded  by  Men- 
dieta,  makes  Xolotl  the  sacrificial  celebrant  who  gave  death 
to  the  other  gods  and  then  to  himself  that  the  sun  might  have 
life.  In  still  another  tale,  recorded  also  by  Mendieta,  it  is  the 
dog  Xolotl  who  is  sent  to  the  Underworld  for  bones  of  the 
forefathers,  that  the  first  human  pair  might  be  created;  but 
being  pursued  by  Mictlantecutli,  Xolotl  stumbled,  and  the 
bone  that  he  carried  was  dropped  and  broken  into  fragments, 
from  which  the  various  kinds  of  people  sprang.  Tales  such  as 
these  are  strongly  reminiscent  of  the  coyote  stories  of  the 
northern  continent,  and  it  is  possible  that  Xolotl  himself  is 
only  a  special  form  of  Coyote,  the  trickster  and  transformer, 
especially  as  Ueuecoyotl  ("Old  Coyote"),  borrowed  from 
the  more  primitive  Otomi,  was  a  recognized  member  of  the 
Aztec  pantheon,  as  a  god  of  feasts  and  dances,  and  perhaps 
of  trickery  as  well. 

Of  all  the  recorded  beliefs  connected  with  the  dead  the 
most  affecting  is  the  brief  account  of  the  limbo  of  child-souls 
reported  by  the  clerical  expositor  of  Codex  Vaticanus  A. 
There  was,  he  says,25  "a  third  place  for  souls  which  passed 
from  this  life,  to  which  went  only  the  souls  of  children  who 
died  before  attaining  the  use  of  reason.  They  feigned  the 
existence  of  a  tree  from  which  milk  distilled,  where  all  chil- 
dren who  died  at  such  an  age  were  carried;  since  the  Devil, 


84  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

who  is  so  inimical  to  the  honour  of  God,  even  in  this  instance 
wished  to  show  his  rivalry:  for  in  the  same  way  as  our  holy 
doctors  teach  the  existence  of  limbo  for  children  who  die 
without  baptism,  or  without  the  circumcision  of  the  old  law, 
or  without  the  sacrifice  of  the  natural  man,  so  he  has  caused 
these  poor  people  to  believe  that  there  was  such  a  place  for 
their  children;  and  he  has  superadded  another  error  —  the 
persuading  them  that  these  children  have  to  return  thence  to 
repeople  the  world  after  the  third  destruction  which  they 
suppose  that  it  must  undergo,  for  they  believe  that  the  world 
has  already  been  twice  destroyed."  The  belief  in  an  infant 
paradise,  with  its  Tree  of  Life  whence  the  souls  of  babes  draw 
nourishment,  biding  the  day  of  their  rebirth,  is  a  pleasant 
relief  from  the  nightmarelike  quality  of  most  Aztec  notions  — 
not  less  familiarly  human  than  are  the  pious  reflections  of  the 
good  friar  who  records  it. 


CHAPTER  III 

MEXICO 

(Continued) 
I.   COSMOGONY1 

MEXICAN  cosmogonies  conform  to  a  wide-spread  Ameri- 
can type.  There  is  first  an  ancient  creator,  little  im- 
portant in  cult,  who  is  the  remote  giver  and  sustainer  of  the 
life  of  the  universe;  and  next  comes  a  generation  of  gods, 
magicians  and  transformers  rather  than  true  creators,  who 
form  and  transform  the  beings  of  times  primeval  and  eventually 
bring  the  world  to  its  present  condition.  The  earlier  world- 
epochs,  or  "Suns,"  as  the  Mexicans  called  them,  are  commonly 
four  in  number,  and  each  is  terminated  by  the  catastrophic 
destruction  'of  its  Sun  and  of  its  peoples,  fire  and  flood  over- 
whelming creation  in  successive  cataclysms.  Not  all  of  this, 
in  single  completeness,  is  preserved  in  any  one  account,  but 
from  the  various  fragments  and  abridgements  that  are  extant 
the  whole  may  be  reasonably  reconstructed. 

One  of  the  simpler  tales  (simple  at  least  in  its  transmitted 
form)  is  of  the  Tarascan  deity,  Tucupacha.  "They  hold  him 
to  be  creator  of  all  things,"  says  Herrera,2  "that  he  gives  life 
and  death,  good  and  evil  fortune,  and  they  call  upon  him  in 
their  tribulations,  gazing  toward  the  sky  where  they  believe 
him  to  be."  This  deity  first  created  heaven  and  earth  and  hell; 
then  he  formed  a  man  and  a  woman  of  clay,  but  they  were 
destroyed  in  bathing;  again  he  made  a  human  pair,  using  cin- 
ders and  metals,  and  from  these  the  world  was  peopled.  But 
the  god  sent  a  flood,  from  which  he  preserved  a  certain  priest, 
Texpi,  and  his  wife,  with  seeds  and  with  animals,  floating  in  an 


86  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ark-like  log.  Texpi  discovered  land  by  sending  out  birds,  after 
the  fashion  of  Noah,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  legend  as 
recounted  is  not  altogether  native. 

More  primitive  in  type  and  more  interesting  in  form  is  the 
Mixtec  cosmogony  narrated  by  Fray  Gregorio  Garcia,  which 
begins  thus  :3  "  In  the  year  and  in  the  day  of  obscurity  and  dark- 
ness, when  there  were  as  yet  no  days  nor  years,  the  world  was 
a  chaos  sunk  in  darkness,  while  the  earth  was  covered  with 
water,  on  which  scum  and  slime  floated."  This  exordium, 
with  its  effort  to  describe  the  void  by  negation  and  the  be- 
ginning of  time  by  the  absence  of  its  denominations,  is  strik- 
ingly reminiscent  of  the  creation-narrative  in  Genesis  ii.  and 
of  the  similar  Babylonian  cosmogony;  the  negative  mode,  em- 
ployed in  all  three,  is  essentially  true  to  that  stage  when  human 
thought  is  first  struggling  to  grapple  with  abstractions,  seeking 
to  define  them  rather  by  a  process  of  denudation  than  by  one 
of  limitation  of  the  field  of  thought.  The  Mixtec  tale  proceeds 
with  a  group  of  incidents,  (i)  The  Deer-God  and  the  Deer- 
Goddess  (the  deer  is  an  emblem  of  fecundity)  —  known  also 
as  the  Puma-Snake  and  the  Jaguar-Snake,  in  which  character 
they  doubtless  represent  the  tawny  heaven  of  the  day-sky  and 
the  starry  vault  of  night  —  magically  raised  a  cliff  above  the 
abyss  of  waters,  on  the  summit  of  which  they  placed  an  axe, 
edge  upward,  upon  which  the  heavens  rested.  (2)  Here,  at 
the  Place-where-the-Heavens-stood,  they  lived  many  cen- 
turies, and  here  they  reared  their  two  boys,  Wind-of-the-Nine- 
Serpents  and  Wind-of-the-Nine-Caves,  who  possessed  the 
power  of  transforming  themselves  into  eagles  and  serpents, 
and  even  of  passing  through  solid  bodies.  The  symbolism  of 
these  two  boys  as  typifying  the  upper  and  the  nether  world  is 
obvious;  they  can  only  be  one  more  example  of  the  demiurgic 
twins  common  in  American  cosmogony.  (3)  The  brothers 
inaugurated  sacrifice  and  penance,  the  cultivation  of  flowers 
and  fruits;  and  with  vows  and  prayers  they  besought  their 
ancestral  gods  to  let  the  light  appear,  to  cause  the  water  to  be 


MEXICO  87 

separated  from  the  earth,  and  to  permit  the  dry  land  to  be 
freed  from  its  covering.  (4)  The  earth  was  peopled,  but  a 
flood  destroyed  this  First  People,  and  the  world  was  restored 
by  the  "Creator  of  all  Things." 

It  is  probable  that  this  Mixtec  Creator-of-All-Things  was  the 
same  deity  as  he  who  was  known  to  their  Zapotec  kindred  as 
Coqui-Xee  or  Coqui-Cilla  ("Lord  of  the  Beginning"),  of  whom 
it  was  said  that  "he  was  the  creator  of  all  things  and  was  him- 
self uncreated."  Seler  is  of  opinion  that  Coqui-Xee  is  a  spirit 
of  "the  beginning"  in  the  sense  of  dawn  and  the  east  and  the 
rising  sun,  and  that  since  he  is  also  known  as  Piye-Tao,  or 
"the  Great  Wind,"  he  is  none  other  than  the  Zapotec  Quet- 
zalcoatl,  who  also  is  an  increate  creator.  Coqui-Xee,  however, 
is  "  merely  the  principle,  the  essence  of  the  creative  deity  or  of 
deity  in  general  without  reference  to  the  act  of  creating  the 
world  and  human  beings";  for  that  act  is  rather  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  primeval  pair  (equivalent  to  the  Deer-God  and  Deer- 
Goddess  of  the  Mixtec),  Cozaana  ("Creator,  the  Maker  of  all 
Beasts")  and  Huichaana  ("Creator,  the  Maker  of  Men  and 
Fishes"). 

The  ideas  of  the  Nahuatlan  tribes  were  similar.  Of  the 
Chichimec  Sahagun  4  says  that  "  they  had  only  a  single  god, 
Mixcoatl,  whose  image  they  possessed;  but  they  believed  in 
another  invisible  god,  not  represented  by  any  image,  called 
Yoalli  Ehecatl,  that  is  to  say,  God  invisible,  impalpable, 
beneficent,  protector,  omnipotent,  by  whose  strength  alone 
the  whole  world  lives,  and  who,  by  his  sole  knowledge,  rules 
voluntarily  all  things."  Mixcoatl  ("Cloud-Snake"),  the  tribal 
god  of  the  Chichimec  and  Otomi,  is  certainly  an  analogue 
of  Quetzalcoatl  or  of  Huitzilopochtli,  like  them  figuring  as 
demiurge;  and  Yoalli  Ehecatl  ("Wind  and  Night,"  or  "Night- 
Wind")  is  an  epithet  applied  to  Tezcatlipoca,  who  also  is 
addressed  as  "Creator  of  Heaven  and  Earth." 

All  of  these  gods  are  of  the  sky  and  atmosphere,  and  all  of 
them  appear  as  creative  powers,  though  mainly  in  the  demiurgic 


88  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

role.  Back  of  and  above  them  is  the  ancient  Twofold  One,  the 
Male-Female  or  Male  and  Female  principle  of  generation, 
which  not  only  first  created  the  world,  but  maintains  it  fecund. 
This  being,  sometimes  called  Tloque  Nauaque,  or  "Lord  of 
the  By,"  i.  e.  the  Omnipresent,  is  represented  as  a  divine  pair, 
known  under  several  names.  Sahagun  commonly  speaks  of 
them  asOmetecutli  and  Omeciuatl  ("Twi-Lord,"  "Twi-Lady  "), 
and  in  his  account  of  the  Toltec  he  states  that  they  reign  over 
the  twelve  heavens  and  the  earth;  the  existence  of  all  things 
depends  upon  them,  and  from  them  proceeds  the  "influence 
and  warmth  whereby  infants  are  engendered  in  the  wombs  of 
their  mothers."  Tonacatecutli  and  Tonacaciutl  ("Lord  of  Our 
Flesh,"  "Lady  of  Our  Flesh")  is  another  pair  of  names,  used 
with  reference  to  the  creation  of  the  human  body  out  of  maize 
and  to  its  support  thereby.5  A  third  pair  of  terms,  appearing 
in  Mendieta  and  in  the  Annals  of  Quauhtitlan,  is  Citlallatonac 
and  Citlalicue  ("Lord"  and  "Lady  of  the  Starry  Zones"). 
In  the  Annals  Quetzalcoatl,  as  high-priest  of  the  Toltec,  is  said 
to  have  dedicated  a  cult  to  "Citlalicue  Citlallatonac,  Tonaca- 
ciuatl  Tonacatecutli  .  .  .  who  is  clothed  in  charcoal,  clothed 
in  blood,  who  giveth  food  to  the  earth;  and  he  cried  aloft,  to 
the  Omeyocan,  to  the  heaven  lying  above  the  nine  that  are 
bound  together."  Nevertheless,  these  deities  —  or  rather 
deity,  for  Tloque  Nauaque  seems  to  be,  like  the  Zuni  Awona- 
wilona,  bisexual  in  nature  —  received  little  recognition  in  the 
formal  cult;  and  it  was  said  that  they  desired  none. 

In  connexion  with  these  primal  creators  appear  the  demiur- 
gic transformers,  Quetzalcoatl  usually  playing  the  important 
part.  According  to  Sahagun' s  fragmentary  accounts,  the  gods 
were  gathered  from  time  immemorial  in  a  place  called  Teotiua- 
can.  They  asked:  "Who  shall  govern  and  direct  the  world? 
Who  will  be  Sun?"  Tecuciztecatl  (" Cockle-Shell  House")  and 
the  pox-afflicted  Nanauatzin  volunteered.  They  were  dressed 
in  ceremonial  garments  and  fasted  for  four  days;  and  then  the 
gods  ranged  themselves  about  a  sacrificial  fire,  which  the  candi- 


PLATE   XII 

Figures  representing  the  heavenly  bodies. 

The  upper  figure,  from  Codex  Faticanus  B,  rep- 
resents the  conflict  of  light  and  darkness.  The 
Eagle  is  either  the  Morning  Star  or  the  Sun;  the 
Plumed  Serpent  is  the  symbol  of  the  Cosmic  Waters, 
from  whose  throat  the  Hare,  perhaps  the  Earth  or 
Moon,  is  being  snatched  by  the  Eagle.  Similar 
figures  appear  in  other  codices,  the  Serpent  being 
in  one  instance  represented  as  torn  by  the  Eagle's 
talons. 

The  lower  figure,  from  Codex  Borgia,  portrays 
Sun,  Moon,  and  Morning  Star.  The  Sun-god  is 
within  the  rayed  disk;  he  holds  a  bundle  of  spears 
in  one  hand,  a  spear-thrower  in  the  other;  a  stream 
of  blood,  apparently  from  a  sacrifice  offered  by  the 
Morning  Star,  which  has  the  form  of  an  ocelot, 
nourishes  the  Sun.  The  Moon  appears  as  a  Hare 
upon  the  face  of  the  crescent,  which  is  filled  with 
water  and  set  upon  a  background  of  dark  sky. 


MEXICO  89 

dates  were  asked  to  enter.  Tecuciztecatl  recoiled  from  the 
intense  heat  until  encouraged  by  the  example  of  Nanauatzin, 
who  plunged  into  it;  and  because  of  this  Nanauatzin  became 
the  Sun,  while  Tecuciztecatl  assumed  second  place  as  Moon. 
The  gods  now  ranged  themselves  to  await  the  appearance  of 
the  Sun,  but  not  knowing  where  to  expect  it,  and  gazing  in 
various  directions,  some  of  them,  including  Quetzalcoatl, 
turned  their  faces  toward  the  east,  where  the  Sun  finally 
manifested  himself,  close-followed  by  the  Moon.  Their  light 
being  then  equal,  was  so  bright  that  none  might  endure  it,  and 
the  deities  accordingly  asked  one  another,  "How  can  this  be? 
Is  it  good  that  they  should  shine  with  equal  light?"  One  of 
them  ran  and  threw  a  rabbit  into  the  face  of  Tecuciztecatl, 
which  thenceforth  shone  as  does  now  the  moon;  but  since  the 
sun  and  the  moon  rested  upon  the  earth,  without  rising, 
the  gods  saw  that  they  must  immolate  themselves  to  give 
motion  to  the  orbs  of  light.  Xolotl  fled,  but  was  finally  caught 
and  sacrificed;  yet  even  so  the  orbs  did  not  stir  until  the  wind 
blew  with  such  violence  as  to  compel  them  —  first,  the  sun,  and 
afterward  the  moon.  Quetzalcoatl,  the  wind-god,  is,  of  course, 
thus  the  giver  of  life  to  sun  and  moon  as  he  is  also,  in  the  prayers 
the  bearer  of  the  breath  of  life  from  the  divine  pair  to  the  new- 
born. 

A  complete  version  of  the  same  myth  is  given  by  Mendieta,6 
who  credits  it  to  Fray  Andres  de  Olmos,  transmitted  by  word 
of  mouth  from  Mexican  caciques.  Each  province  had  its  own 
narrative,  he  says,  but  they  were  agreed  that  in  heaven  were 
a  god  and  goddess,  Citlallatonac  and  Citlalicue,  and  that  the 
goddess  gave  birth  to  a  stone  knife  (tecpatl),  to  the  amazement 
and  horror  of  her  other  sons  which  were  in  heaven.  The  stone 
hurled  forth  by  these  outraged  sons  and  falling  to  Chicomoxtoc 
("Seven  Caves"),  was  shattered,  and  from  its  fragments  arose 
sixteen  hundred  earth-godlings.  These  sent  Tlotli,  the  Hawk, 
heavenward  to  demand  of  their  mother  the  privilege  of  creating 
men  to  be  their  servants ;  and  she  replied  that  they  should  send 


90  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

to  Mictlantecutli,  Lord  of  Hell,  for  a  bone  or  ashes  of  the  dead, 
from  which  a  man  and  woman  would  be  born.  Xolotl  was 
dispatched  as  messenger,  secured  the  bone,  and  fled  with  it; 
but  being  pursued  by  the  Lord  of  Hell,  he  stumbled,  and  the 
bone  broke.  With  such  fragments  as  he  could  secure  he 
reached  the  earth,  and  the  bones,  placed  in  a  vessel,  were  sprin- 
kled with  blood  drawn  from  the  bodies  of  the  gods.  On  the 
fourth  day  a  boy  emerged  from  the  mixture;  on  the  eighth,  a  girl; 
and  these  were  reared  by  Xolotl  to  become  parents  of  mankind. 
Men  differ  in  size  because  the  bone  broke  into  unequal  frag- 
ments; and  as  human  beings  multiplied,  they  were  assigned  as 
servants  to  the  several  gods.  Now,  the  Sun  had  not  been 
shining  for  a  long  time,  and  the  deities  assembled  at  Teotiuacan 
to  consider  the  matter.  Having  built  a  great  fire,  they  an- 
nounced that  that  one  among  their  devotees  who  should  first 
hurl  himself  into  it  should  have  the  honour  of  becoming  the 
Sun,  and  when  one  had  courageously  entered  the  flames,  they 
awaited  the  sunrise,  wagering  as  to  the  quarter  in  which  he 
would  appear;  but  they  guessed  wrong,  and  for  this  they  were 
condemned  to  be  sacrificed,  as  they  were  soon  to  learn.  When 
the  Sun  appeared,  he  remained  ominously  motionless;  and  al- 
though Tlotli  was  sent  to  demand  that  he  continue  his  journey, 
he  refused,  saying  that  he  should  remain  where  he  was  until 
they  were  all  destroyed.  Citli  ("Hare")  in  anger  shot  the  Sun 
with  an  arrow,  but  the  latter  hurled  it  back,  piercing  the  fore- 
head of  his  antagonist.  The  gods  then  recognized  their  inferior- 
ity and  allowed  themselves  to  be  sacrificed,  their  hearts  being 
torn  out  by  Xolotl,  who  slew  himself  last  of  all.  Before  de- 
parting, however,  each  divinity  gave  to  his  followers,  as  a 
sacred  bundle,  his  vesture  wrapped  about  a  green  gem  which 
was  to  serve  as  a  heart.  Tezcatlipoca  was  one  of  the  departed 
deities,  but  one  day  he  appeared  to  a  mourning  follower  whom 
he  commanded  to  journey  to  the  House  of  the  Sun  beyond  the 
waters  and  to  bring  thence  singers  and  musical  instruments 
to  make  a  feast  for  him.  This  the  messenger  did,  singing  as  he 


MEXICO  91 

went.  The  Sun  warned  his  people  not  to  harken  to  the  stranger, 
but  the  music  was  irresistible,  and  some  of  them  were  lured 
to  follow  him  back  to  earth,  where  they  instituted  the  musical 
rites.  Such  details  as  the  formation  of  the  ceremonial  bundles 
and  the  journey  of  the  song-seeker  to  the  House  of  the  Sun 
immediately  suggest  numerous  analogues  among  the  wild 
tribes  of  the  north,  indicating  the  primitive  and  doubtless 
ancient  character  of  the  myth. 

II.  THE   FOUR  SUNS7 

In  the  developed  cosmogonic  myths  the  cycles,  or  "Suns," 
of  the  early  world  are  the  turns  of  the  drama  of  creation. 
Ixtlilxochitl  names  four  ages,  following  the  creation  of  the 
world  and  man  by  a  supreme  god,  "Creator  of  All  Things, 
Lord  of  Heaven  and  Earth."  Atonatiuh,  "the  Sun  of  Waters," 
was  the  first  age  terminated  by  a  deluge  in  which  all  creatures 
perished.  Next  came  Tlalchitonatiuh,  "the  Sun  of  Earth"; 
this  was  the  age  of  giants,  and  it  ended  with  a  terrific  earth- 
quake and  the  fall  of  mountains.  "The  Sun  of  Air,"  Ehca- 
tonatiuh,  closed  with  a  furious  wind,  which  destroyed  edifices, 
uprooted  trees,  and  even  moved  the  rocks.  It  was  during  this 
period  that  a  great  number  of  monkeys  appeared  "brought  by 
the  wind,"  and  these  were  regarded  as  men  changed  into  ani- 
mals. Quetzalcoatl  appeared  in  this  third  Sun,  teaching  the  way 
of  virtue  and  the  arts  of  life;  but  his  doctrines  failed  to  take  root, 
so  he  departed  toward  the  east,  promising  to  return  another 
day.  With  his  departure  "the  Sun  of  Air"  came  to  its  end,  and 
Tlatonatiuh,  "the  Sun  of  Fire,"  began,  so  called  because  it  was 
expected  that  the  next  destruction  would  be  by  fire. 

Other  versions  give  four  Suns  as  already  completed,  making 
the  present  into  a  fifth  age  of  the  world.  The  most  detailed 
of  these  cosmogonic  myth-records  is  that  given  in  the  Historia 
de  los  Mexicanos  por  sus  pinturas.  According  to  this  document 
Tonacatecutli  and  Tonacaciuatl  dwelt  from  the  beginning  in 


92  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  thirteenth  heaven.  To  them  were  born,  as  to  an  elder 
generation,  four  gods  —  the  ruddy  Camaxtli  (chief  divinity 
of  the  Tlascalans);  the  black  Tezcatlipoca,  wizard  of  the  night; 
Quetzalcoatl,  the  wind-god;  and  the  grim  Huitzilopochtli,  of 
whom  it  was  said  that  he  was  born  without  flesh,  a  skeleton. 
For  six  hundred  years  these  deities  lived  in  idleness;  then  the 
four  brethren  assembled,  creating  first  the  fire  (hearth  of  the  uni- 
verse) and  afterward  a  half-sun.  They  formed  also  Oxomoco 
and  Cipactonal,  the  first  man  and  first  woman,  commanding 
that  the  former  should  till  the  ground,  and  the  latter  spin  and 
weave;  while  to  the  woman  they  gave  powers  of  divination 
and  grains  of  maize  that  she  might  work  cures.  They  also 
divided  time  into  days  and  inaugurated  a  year  of  eighteen 
twenty-day  periods,  or  three  hundred  and  sixty  days.  Mictlan- 
tecutli  and  Mictlanciuatl  they  created  to  be  Lord  and  Lady  of 
Hell,  and  they  formed  the  heavens  that  are  below  the  thirteenth 
storey  of  the  celestial  regions,  and  the  waters  of  the  sea,  making 
in  the  sea  a  monster  Cipactli,  from  which  they  shaped  the  earth. 
The  gods  of  the  waters,  Tlaloctecutli  and  his  wife  Chalchiuh- 
tlicue,  they  created,  giving  them  dominion  over  the  Quarters. 
The  son  of  the  first  pair  married  a  woman  formed  from  a  hair 
of  the  goddess  Xochiquetzal;  and  the  gods,  noticing  how  little 
was  the  light  given  forth  by  the  half-sun,  resolved  to  make 
another  half-sun,  whereupon  Tezcatlipoca  became  the  sun- 
bearer  —  for  what  we  behold  traversing  the  daily  heavens 
is  not  the  sun  itself,  but  only  its  brightness;  the  true  sun  is 
invisible.  The  other  gods  created  huge  giants,  who  could  uproot 
trees  by  brute  force,  and  whose  food  was  acorns.  For  thirteen 
times  fifty-two  years,  altogether  six  hundred  and  seventy-six, 
this  period  lasted  —  as  long  as  its  Sun  endured;  and  it  is  from 
this  first  Sun  that  time  began  to  be  counted,  for  during  the 
six  hundred  years  of  the  idleness  of  the  gods,  while  Huitzilo- 
pochtli was  in  his  bones,  time  was  not  reckoned.  This  Sun  came 
to  an  end  when  Quetzalcoatl  struck  down  Tezcatlipoca  and 
became  Sun  in  his  place.  Tezcatlipoca  was  metamorphosed 


MEXICO  93 

into  a  jaguar  (Ursa  Major)  which  is  seen  by  night  in  the  skies 
wheeling  down  into  the  waters  whither  Quetzalcoatl  cast  him; 
and  this  jaguar  devoured  the  giants  of  that  period.  At  the 
end  of  six  hundred  and  seventy-six  years  Quetzalcoatl  was 
treated  by  his  brothers  as  he  had  treated  Tezcatlipoca,  and  his 
Sun  came  to  an  end  with  a  great  wind  which  carried  away  most 
of  the  people  of  that  time  or  transformed  them  into  monkeys. 
Then  for  seven  times  fifty-two  years  Tlaloc  was  Sun;  but  at 
the  end  of  this  three  hundred  and  sixty-four  years  Quetzalcoatl 
rained  fire  from  heaven  and  made  Chalchiuhtlicue  Sun  in  place 
of  her  husband,  a  dignity  which  she  held  for  three  hundred 
and  twelve  years  (six  times  fifty-two) ;  and  it  was  in  these  days 
that  maize  began  to  be  used.  Now  two  thousand  six  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  years  had  passed  since  the  birth  of  the  gods, 
and  in  this  year  it  rained  so  heavily  that  the  heavens  themselves 
fell,  while  the  people  of  that  time  were  transformed  into  fish. 
When  the  gods  saw  this,  they  created  four  men,  with  whose  aid 
Tezcatlipoca  and  Quetzalcoatl  again  upreared  the  heavens, 
even  as  they  are  today;  and  these  two  gods  becoming  lords  of 
the  heavens  and  of  the  stars,  walked  therein.  After  the  deluge 
and  the  restoration  of  the  heavens,  Tezcatlipoca  discovered 
the  art  of  making  fire  from  sticks  and  of  drawing  it  from  the 
heart  of  flint.  The  first  man,  Piltzintecutli,  and  his  wife,  who 
had  been  made  of  a  hair  of  Xochiquetzal,  did  not  perish  in  the 
flood,  because  they  were  divine.  A  son  was  born  to  them,  and 
the  gods  created  other  people  just  as  they  had  formerly  existed. 
But  since,  except  for  the  fires,  all  was  in  darkness,  the  gods  re- 
solved to  create  a  new  Sun.  This  was  done  by  Quetzalcoatl, 
who  cast  his  own  son,  by  Chalchiuhtlicue,  into  a  great  fire, 
whence  he  issued  as  the  Sun  of  our  own  time;  Tlaloc  hurled  his 
son  into  the  cinders  of  the  fire,  and  thence  rose  the  Moon,  ever 
following  after  the  Sun.  This  Sun,  said  the  gods,  should  eat 
hearts  and  drink  blood,  and  so  they  established  wars  that  there 
might  be  sacrifices  of  captives  to  nourish  the  orbs  of  light. 
Most  of  the  other  versions  of  the  myth  of  the  epochal  Suns 


94  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

similarly  date  the  beginning  of  sacrifice  and  penance  from  the 
birth  of  the  present  age. 

The  Annals  of  Quauhtitlan  gives  a  somewhat  different  pic- 
ture of  the  course  of  the  epochs.  Each  epoch  begins  on  the 
first  day  of  Tochtli,  and  the  god  Quetzalcoatl  figures  as  the 
creator.  Atonatiuh,  the  first  Sun,  ended  with  a  flood  and  the 
transformation  of  living  creatures  into  fish.  Ocelotonatiuh, 

the  Jaguar  Sun,"  was  the  epoch  of  giants  and  of  solar  eclipse. 
Third  came  "the  Sun  of  Rains,"  Quiyauhtonatiuh,  ending 
with  a  rain  of  fire  and  red-hot  rocks ;  only  birds,  or  those  trans- 
formed into  them,  and  a  human  pair  who  found  subterranean 
refuge,  escaped  the  conflagration.  The  fourth,  Ecatonatiuh, 
is  the  Sun  of  destruction  by  winds;  while  the  fifth  is  the  Sun 
of  Earthquakes,  Famines,  Wars,  and  Confusions,  which  will 
bring  our  present  world  to  destruction.  The  author  of  the 
Spiegazione  delle  tavole  del  codice  mexicano  (Codex  Vaticanus  A) 
—  not  consistent  with  himself,  for  in  his  account  of  the  infants' 
limbo  he  makes  ours  the  third  Sun  —  changes  the  order  some- 
what: first,  the  Sun  of  Water,  which  is  also  the  Age  of  Giants; 
second,  the  Sun  of  Winds,  ending  with  the  transformation 
into  apes;  third,  the  Sun  of  Fire;  fourth,  the  Sun  of  Famine, 
terminating  with  a  rain  of  blood  and  the  fall  of  Tollan.  Four 
Suns  passed,  and  a  fifth  Sun,  leading  forward  to  a  fifth  eventual 
destruction,  seems,  most  authorities  agree,  to  represent  the 
orthodox  Mexican  myth;  though  versions  like  that  of  Ixtlilxo- 
chitl  represent  only  three  as  past,  while  others,  as  Camargo's 
account  of  the  Tlascaltec  myth,  make  the  present  Sun  the  third 
in  a  total  of  four  that  are  to  be.  Probably  one  cause  of  the 
confusion  with  respect  to  the  order  of  the  Suns  is  the  double 
association  of  Quetzalcoatl — first,  with  the  Sun  of  Winds,  which 
he,  as  the  Wind-God,  would  naturally  acquire;  and  second,  with 
the  fall  of  Tollan  and  of  the  Toltec  empire,  for  Quetzalcoatl, 
with  respect  to  dynastic  succession,  is  clearly  the  Toltec  Zeus. 
The  Sun  of  Winds  is  normally  the  second  in  the  series ;  the  fall 
of  Tollan  is  generally  associated  with  the  end  of  the  Sun  last 


PLATE   XIII 

Figures  from  Codex  Faticanus  A  representing 
cataclysms  bringing  to  an  end  cosmic  "Suns,"  or 
Ages  of  the  World. 

The  upper  figure  represents  the  close  of  the  Sun 
of  Winds,  ending  with  the  transformation  of  men, 
save  for  an  ancestral  pair,  into  apes.  The  lower 
pictures  the  end  of  the  Sun  of  Fire,  whence  only 
birds  and  a  human  pair  in  a  subterranean  retreat 
escaped. 


MEXICO  95 

past:  circumstances  which  may  account  for  the  shortened 
versions,  for  it  seems  little  likely  (judging  from  American 
analogies)  that  the  notion  of  four  Suns  passed  is  not  the  most 
primitive  version. 

Another  myth  confusedly  associated  now  with  the  Sun  of 
Waters,  now  with  the  Sun  last  past,  is  the  story  of  the  deluge. 
In  the  pattern  conception  (if  it  may  so  be  termed)  each  Sun  be- 
gins with  the  creation  or  appearance  of  a  First  Man  and  First 
Woman  and  ends  with  the  salvation  of  a  single  human  pair,  all 
others  being  lost  or  transformed.  The  first  Sun  ends  with  a 
deluge  and  the  metamorphosis  of  the  First  Men  into  fish;  but 
a  single  pair  escaped  by  being  sealed  up  in  a  log  or  ark.  In  the 
Chimalpopoca  (Quauhtitlan)  version  given  by  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  it  is  related  that  the  waters  had  been  tranquil  for 
fifty-two  years;  then,  on  the  first  day  of  the  Sun,  there  came 
such  a  flood  as  submerged  even  the  mountains,  and  this  en- 
dured for  fifty-two  years.  Warned  by  Tezcatlipoca,  however, 
a  man  named  Nata,  with  Nena  his  wife,  hollowed  a  log  and 
entered  therein;  and  the  god  closed  the  port,  saying,  "Thou 
shalt  eat  but  a  single  ear  of  maize,  and  thy  wife  but  a  single 
ear  also."  When  the  waters  subsided,  they  issued  from  their 
log,  and  seeing  fish  about,  they  built  a  fire  to  roast  them. 
Citlallatonac  and  Citlalicue,  beholding  this  from  the  heavens, 
said:  "Divine  Lord,  what  is  this  fire?  Wherefore  does  this 
smoke  cloud  the  sky?"  Whereupon  Tezcatlipoca  descended  in 
anger,  crying,  "What  fire  is  this?"  And  he  seized  the  fishes 
and  transformed  them  into  dogs.  Certainly  one  would  relish 
an  elaboration  of  this  tale;  for  it  would  seem  that  a  theft  of  the 
fire  must  precede  —  perhaps  a  suffering  Prometheus  may  have 
followed  —  the  anger  of  the  gods.  In  another  version  the 
Mexican  Noah  is  named  Coxcox,  his  wife  bears  the  name  of 
Xochiquetzal ;  and  it  is  said  that  their  children,  born  dumb, 
received  their  several  forms  of  speech  from  the  birds.  Now 
Xochiquetzal  is  associated  (doubtless  as  a  festal  goddess)  with 
Tollan  and  the  age  in  which  she  appears  is  the  last  of  all,  that 


96  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

in  which  Tollan  is  destroyed;  whence  the  deluge  is  placed  at 
the  end  of  the  fourth  Sun. 

To  the  same  group  of  events  —  the  passing  of  Tollan  and 
the  deluge  —  belong  the  stories  of  the  building  of  the  great 
pyramid  of  Cholula  and  the  portents  which  accompanied  it. 
It  is  said  8  that,  reared  by  a  chief  named  Xelua,  who  escaped 
the  deluge,  it  was  built  so  high  that  it  appeared  to  reach  heaven; 
and  that  they  who  reared  it  were  content,  "  since  it  seemed  to 
them  that  they  had  a  place  whence  to  escape  from  the  deluge 
if  it  should  happen  again,  and  whence  they  might  ascend  into 
heaven";  but  "a  chalcuitl,  which  is  a  precious  stone,  fell  thence 
[i.  e.  from  the  skies]  and  struck  it  to  the  ground;  others  say 
that  the  chalcuitl  was  in  the  shape  of  a  toad;  and  that  whilst 
destroying  the  tower  it  reprimanded  them,  inquiring  of  them 
their  reason  for  wishing  to  ascend  into  heaven,  since  it  was 
sufficient  for  them  to  see  what  was  on  the  earth."  It  is  worth 
while  to  remember  that  the  hybristic  scaling  of  heaven  is  no 
uncommon  motive  in  American  Indian  myth,  while  the  moral 
of  the  tale  is  honestly  pagan  —  "  mortal  things  are  the  behoof 
of  mortals,"  saith  Pindar;  nor  can  we  fail  to  see  in  the  green 
jewel  the  jealous  Earth-Titaness,  for  the  toad  is  Earth's  symbol. 

The  duration  of  the  cosmic  Suns  is  given  various  values  by 
the  recorders  of  the  myths.  These,  no  doubt,  issued  from  varia- 
tions in  calendric  computations;  for  the  Mexicans  not  only 
possessed  an  elaborate  calendar;  they  also  used  it,  in  its  in- 
volved circles  of  returning  signs,  as  the  foundation  for  calcula- 
ting the  cycles  of  cosmic  and  of  human  history.  It  is  essential, 
therefore,  if  the  genius  of  Mexican  myth  be  fully  grasped,  that 
the  elements  of  its  calendar  be  made  clear. 

III.  THE   CALENDAR  AND   ITS   CYCLES9 

The  Mexican  calendar  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  in- 
ventions of  human  intelligence.  Elsewhere  the  science  of  the 
calendar  is  a  lore  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  of  their  synodic 


MEXICO  97 

periods;  in  the  count  of  time  astronomy  is  mistress,  and  num- 
ber is  but  the  handmaiden.  In  the  Mexican  system  this  rela- 
tion is  distinctly  reversed:  it  is  number  that  is  dominant,  and 
astronomy  that  is  ancillary.  One  might,  indeed,  add  that  the 
number  is  geometric.  It  is  common  enough  elsewhere  to  find 
the  measures  of  space  influencing  the  measures  of  time,  but 
ordinarily  they  are  the  measures  of  celestial,  not  of  terres- 
trial, space;  and  they  are,  therefore,  moving,  and  not  sta- 
tionary, numbers.  In  the  Mexican  system  the  controlling 
numerical  ideas  appear  to  be  the  4  (5)  and  the  6  (7)  of  the 
world-quarters — these  in  their  duplicate  forms,  9  (=  2  X  4  + 1) 
and  13  (=2x64-1)  —  and  all  are  under  the  domination  of 
the  four  by  five  digits  (two  fives  of  fingers  and  two  of  toes)  of 
their  vigesimal  system  of  counting.  Man  in  the  Middle  Place 
of  his  cosmos;  oriented  to  the  rising  Sun;  four-square  with  the 
Quarters,  which  are  duplicate  in  the  Above  and  the  Below; 
counting  his  natural  days  by  his  natural  digits:  this  is  the 
image  which  makes  most  plausible  our  explanations  of  the 
peculiarly  earth-tethered  calendar  of  the  Mexicans,  and,  in 
consequence,  of  a  cosmographical  rather  than  an  astrological 
conception  of  the  Fates  and  Influences. 

Not  that  the  moving  heavens  were  without  computation: 
astronomy,  though  secondary,  was  indispensable.10  The  day, 
of  course,  is  the  creation  of  the  journey  of  the  sun;  and  the 
day,  as  a  time-unit,  plays  in  the  Mexican  count  a  part  alto- 
gether commensurate  in  importance  with  that  given  to  the 
sun  in  myth  and  ritual.  The  moon,  though  far  less  prominent 
in  every  respect,  is  still  conspicuously  figured.  The  morning 
star  (far  and  wide  a  great  deity  of  the  American  Indian  nations) 
was  second  in  significance  only  to  the  sun;  indeed,  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  achievements  of  aboriginal  American 
science  was  the  identification  of  Phosphorus  and  Hesperus  as 
the  same  star,  and  the  computation  of  a  Venus-period  of  five 
hundred  and  eighty-four  days  (the  exact  period  being  five 
hundred  and  eighty-three  days  and  twenty-two  hours). 


98  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Comets  and  meteors  were  regarded  as  portents;  the  Milky 
Way  was  the  skirt  of  Citlalicue,  or  was  the  white  hair  of 
Mixcoatl  of  the  Zenith;  and  in  the  patterns  of  the  stars  were 
seen  the  figures  that  define  the  topography  of  the  nocturnal 
heavens.  Sahagun  mentions  three  constellations,  which  he 
vaguely  identifies  with  Gemini,  Scorpio,  and  Ursa  Minor; 
and  in  the  chart  of  heavenly  bodies,  given  with  his  Nahuatlan 
text,  he  figures  two  other  stellar  groups;  while  five  is  the  num- 
ber which  Tezozomoc  names  as  those  for  which  the  king  elect 
must  keep  watch  on  the  night  of  his  vigil.  Doubtless  many 
other  star-patterns  were  observed,  but  these  five  seem  pre- 
dominant. Stansbury  Hagar,  resolving  what  he  regards  as 
the  Mexican  Scorpio  into  Scorpio  and  Libra,  would  see  in 
Sahagun's  figures  half  of  the  zodiacal  twelve;  and  in  both 
Mexico  and  Peru  he  believes  that  he  has  identified  a  series  of 
signs  closely  equivalent  to  that  of  the  Old  World  zodiac.  An- 
other view  (presented  by  Zelia  Nuttall)  conceives  the  Aztec 
constellations  as  forming  a  series  of  twenty,  corresponding  to 
the  twenty  day-signs  employed  in  the  calendar.  A  third  in- 
terpretation, on  the  whole,  accordant  with  the  evidence,  is  that 
of  Seler,  who  maintains  that  the  five  constellations  named  by 
Sahagun  and  Tezozomoc  represent,  instead  of  a  zodiac,  the 
four  quarters  and  the  zenith  of  the  sky-world,  and  are,  there- 
fore, spatial  rather  than  temporal  guides.  Seler  identifies 
Mamalhuaztli,  "the  Fire-Sticks,"  with  stars  of  the  east,  in  or 
near  Taurus.  The  Pleiades,  rising  in  the  same  neighbourhood, 
he  believes  to  have  been  the  sign  of  the  zenith;  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  cycle  of  fifty-two  years  the  new  fire  was  kin- 
dled when  the  Pleiades  were  in  the  zenith  at  midnight  —  the 
very  hour,  according  to  Tezozomoc,  when  the  king  rises  to  his 
vigil.  Citlalachtli,  "the  Star  Ball-Ground,"  is  called  "the 
North  and  its  Wheel"  by  Tezozomoc,  and  must  refer  to  the 
stars  which  revolve  about  the  northern  pole.  Colotlixayac, 
"Scorpion-Face,"  marks  the  west;  while  Citlalxonecuilli  — 
so  named,  Sahagun  tells  us,  from  its  resemblance  to  S-shaped 


MEXICO  99 

loaves  of  bread  which  were  called  xonecuilli — is  clearly  identi- 
fied by  Tezozomoc  with  the  Southern  Cross  and  adjacent 
stars.  Thus  it  appears  (granting  Seler's  interpretation)  that 
the  constellations  served  but  to  mark  the  pillars  of  this  four- 
square world. 

Essentially  the  Mexican  calendar  is  an  elaborate  day- 
count.  As  with  many  other  American  peoples,  the  system  of 
notation  was  vigesimal  (probably  developed  from  a  quinary 
mode  of  counting),  and  the  days  were  accordingly  reckoned 
by  twenties:  twenty  pictographs  served  as  day-signs,  end- 
lessly repeated  like  the  names  of  the  days  of  the  week.  These 
twenty-day  periods  are  commonly  called  "months"  (follow- 
ing the  usage  of  Spanish  writers),  though  they  have  no  rela- 
tion to  the  moon  and  its  phases;  they  are,  however,  like  our 
months,  used  as  measures  of  the  primitive  solar  year  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  the  Aztec  year  comprising 
eighteen  months  (or  sets  of  twenties)  plus  five  nemontemi,  or 
"Empty  Days,"  regarded  as  unlucky.  According  to  Sahagun, 
six  nemontemi  were  counted  every  fourth  year;  if  this  were 
true  (it  is  widely  doubted),  the  Mexicans  would  have  had  a 
calendar  which  was  Julian  in  effect.  Like  our  months,  each 
of  the  eighteen  twenties  of  the  solar  year  had  its  own  name 
and  its  characteristic  religious  festivals;  during  the  nemontemi 
there  were  neither  feasts  nor  undertakings.  The  beginning  of 
the  solar  year  is  placed  by  Sahagun  on  the  first  day  of  the 
month  Atlcaualco  —  corresponding,  he  says,  to  February  2 
—  the  period  of  the  cessation  of  rains,  and  the  time  of  rites 
in  honour  of  Tlaloc  and  Chalchiuhtlicue.  Some  authorities, 
however,  believe  that  the  year  really  began  with  Toxcatl, 
corresponding  to  the  earlier  part  of  May,  the  period  of  the 
celebration  of  the  great  festival  of  Tezcatlipoca,  when  his 
personator  was  sacrificed  and  the  next  year's  victim  was 
chosen.  The  location  of  the  nemontemi  in  the  year  is  not 
certain. 

From  the  fact  that  to  the  days  of  the  year  were  assigned 


ioo  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

twenty  endlessly  repeating  signs,  and  the  further  fact  that 
the  nemontemi  were  five  in  number  (18  X  20  +  5  =  365),  it 
follows  that  the  first  day  of  the  year  would  always  fall  upon 
one  of  four  signs;  and  these  signs  —  Calli  ("House"),  Tochtli 
("Rabbit"),  Acatl  ("Reed"),  and  Tecpatl  ("Flint")  —  in- 
evitably became  emphasized  in  the  imagination,  not  only 
with  units  of  time,  but  also  with  the  Quarters  which  divide 
the  world. 

But  the  designation  of  the  days  was  not  simply  by  the  series 
of  pictographic  signs.  An  additional  series  was  formed  of  the 
numbers  one  to  thirteen,  which,  like  the  signs,  were  repeated 
over  and  over;  so  that  each  day  had  not  only  a  sign,  but 
also  a  number.  Since  only  thirteen  numerals  were  employed, 
it  follows  that  if  any  given  twenty  days  have  the  number  one 
accompanying  the  sign  of  its  first  day,  the  sign  of  the  first 
day  of  the  ensuing  twenty  days  will  be  accompanied  by  the 
number  eight,  the  sign  of  the  first  day  of  the  third  twenty  by 
two,  and  so  on;  not  until  the  end  of  two  hundred  and  sixty 
days  (since  thirteen  is  a  prime  number)  will  the  same  number 
recur  with  the  initial  sign.  The  representation  of  this  period 
of  thirteen  by  twenty  days,  in  which  the  cycles  of  numerals 
and  pictographs  passed  from  an  initial  correspondence  to  its 
first  recurrence,  was  called  by  the  Aztec  the  Tonalamatl,  or 
"Book  of  Good  and  Bad  Days"  —  a  set  of  signs  employed 
for  divination  as  the  name  implies.  Since  the  Tonalamatl 
represents  only  two  hundred  and  sixty  days,  it  follows  that  the 
last  one  hundred  and  fifteen  days  of  the  year  will  have  the 
same  signs  and  numerals  as  the  first  one  hundred  and  fifteen. 
For  this  reason  De  Jonghe  and  some  others  believe  that  a 
third  set  of  day-signs  was  employed  —  the  nine  Lords  of  the 
Night,  which  (since  two  hundred  and  sixty  is  not  evenly 
divisible  by  nine)  would  suffice  to  differentiate  the  days 
throughout  the  year.  Seler,  however  maintains  that  he  has 
disproved  this  theory;  if  so,  there  would  still  be  the  possibility 
of  differentiating  the  days  of  the  second  Tonalamatl  from 


PLATE  XIV 

The  Aztec  "Calendar  Stone,"  one  of  the  two 
monuments  (see  Plate  V  for  the  other)  found  be- 
neath the  pavement  of  the  plaza  of  the  city  of 
Mexico  in  1790.  The  outer  band  of  decoration  is 
formed  of  two  "Fire  Snakes"  (cf.  Plates  VII  3  and 
XXI),  each  with  a  human  head  in  its  mouth;  be- 
tween the  tips  of  the  serpents'  tails  is  a  glyph  giving 
the  date,  13  Acatl,  of  the  historical  Sun,  that  is, 
the  beginning  of  the  present  Age  of  the  World.  A 
decorative  band  formed  of  the  twenty  day  signs 
surrounds  the  central  figure,  which  consists  of  a 
Sun-face,  with  the  glyph  4  Olin;  while  in  the  four 
adjacent  compartments  are  the  names  of  the  eras 
of  the  four  earlier  "Suns."  Sun  rays,  with  other 
figures,  appear  in  the  spaces  between  the  inner  and 
outer  decorative  bands.  Below  is  given  a  key 
(after  Joyce,  Mexican  Archaeology,  page  74). 


MEXICO  101 

those  of  the  first  by  employing  the  sign  of  that  one  of  the 
eighteen  "months"  in  which  the  day  fell. 

In  addition  to  the  Tonalamatl,  there  is  another  consequence 
of  the  double  designation  of  the  days.  Each  year,  it  has  been 
noted,  begins  with  one  of  four  day-signs.  But  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  is  indivisible,  evenly,  by  thirteen;  therefore, 
the  day-signs  and  numerals  for  succeeding  years  must  vary, 
the  day-signs  recurring  in  the  same  order  every  four  years, 
and  the  numerals  in  the  same  order  every  thirteen  years 
(since  365  =  13  X  28  +  i),  while  not  until  there  has  elapsed 
four  times  thirteen  years  will  the  same  day-sign  and  the  same 
numeral  occur  on  the  first  day  of  the  year.  These  divisions  of 
the  years  into  groups,  determined  by  their  signs  and  numbers, 
were  of  great  significance  to  the  Mexican  peoples.  The  sign 
which  began  each  group  of  thirteen  years  was  regarded  as 
dominant  during  that  period,  and  as  each  of  these  signs  was 
dedicated  to  one  of  the  four  Quarters,  it  is  to  be  supposed  that 
the  powers  of  the  ruling  sign  determined  the  fortunes  of  the 
period.  The  cycle  was  complete  when,  at  the  end  of  fifty-two 
years,  the  same  sign  and  number  recurred  as  the  emblem  of 
the  year.  Such  an  epoch  was  the  occasion  for  prognostics  and 
dread  anticipations,  and  it  was  celebrated  with  a  special  feast 
at  which  all  fires  were  eKtinguished  and  a  new  flame  was 
kindled  on  the  breast  of  a  sacrificial  victim.  This  festival  was 
called  "the  Knot  of  the  Years,"  and  in  Aztec  pictography 
past  periods  were  represented  by  bundles,  each  signifying 
such  a  cycle  of  fifty-two  years. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  fifty-two  year  cycle  is  also  the 
period  for  the  recurring  coincidence  of  the  day-signs  and 
numerals  in  the  year  and  in  the  Tonalamatl  (for,  365  factor- 
ing 73  X  5,  and  260  factoring  52  X  5,  it  follows  that  52  years 
will  equal  73  Tonalamatls).  It  is,  therefore,  the  more  extra- 
ordinary that  in  the  usual  mode  of  figuring  the  Tonalamatl 
it  is  begun,  not  with  one  of  the  four  signs  which  name  the 
years  and  their  cycles,  but  with  another  day-sign,  Cipactli 


102  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

("Crocodile").  The  plausible  explanation  of  this  is  that 
since  the  Crocodile  was  the  monster  from  which  Earth  was 
formed  by  the  creative  gods,  the  divinatory  period  was  in- 
augurated under  his  sign. 

The  origin  of  so  peculiar  a  reckoning  as  the  Tonalamatl  is 
one  of  the  puzzles  of  Americanist  studies.  Effort  has  been 
made  to  connect  it  with  lunar  movements,  but  no  astronom- 
ical period  corresponds  with  it.  Again,  it  has  been  pointed  out 
that  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  days  of  the  Tonalamatl  ap- 
proximate the  period  of  gestation,  and  in  view  of  its  use,  for 
divinations  and  horoscopic  forecasts,  this  is  not  impossible 
as  an  explanation  of  its  origin.  The  obvious  fact  that  it 
expresses  the  cycle  of  coincidence  of  the  twenty  day-signs 
and  thirteen  numerals  only  carries  the  puzzle  back  to  the 
origination  of  the  numeration,  with  its  anomalous  thirteen  — 
for  which,  as  a  significant  number,  no  more  satisfactory 
astronomical  reason  has  been  suggested  than  Leon  y  Gama's, 
that  it  represents  half  of  the  period  of  the  moon's  visi- 
bility. In  myth  the  invention  of  the  Tonalamatl  is  ascribed 
to  Cipactonal  and  Oxomoco  (in  whom  Senor  Robelo  sees  the 
personification  of  Day  and  Night),  and  again  to  Quetzalcoatl. 
At  his  immolation  the  heart  of  Quetzalcoatl,  it  will  be  re- 
called, flew  upward  to  become  the  Morning  Star,  and  in 
special  degree  the  god  is  associated  with  this  star.  "They 
said  that  Quetzalcoatl  died  when  the  star  became  visible,  and 
henceforward  they  called  him  Tlauizcalpantecutli,  'Lord  of 
the  Dawn.'  They  said  that  when  he  died  he  was  invisible  for 
four  days;  they  said  he  wandered  in  the  underworld,  and  for 
four  days  more  he  was  bone.  Not  until  eight  days  were  past 
did  the  great  star  appear.  Quetzalcoatl  then  ascended  the 
throne  as  god."  One  of  the  early  writers,  Ramon  y  Zamora, 
states  that  the  Tonalamatl  was  determined  by  the  Mexicans 
as  the  period  during  which  Venus  is  visible  as  the  evening 
star;  and  Forstemann  discovered  representations  of  the 
Venus-year  of  five  hundred  and  eighty-four  days  divided  into 


MEXICO  103 

periods  of  ninety,  two  hundred  and  fifty,  eight,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six  days,  which  he  estimated  to  represent  re- 
spectively the  period  of  Venus's  invisibility  during  superior 
conjunction  (ninety  days),  of  its  visibility  as  evening  star 
(two  hundred  and  fifty  days),  of  its  invisibility  during  in- 
ferior conjunction  (eight  days),  and  of  its  visibility  as  morning 
star  (two  hundred  and  thirty-six  days).  The  near  corre- 
spondence of  the  period  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  days  with 
the  Tonalamatl,  coupled  with  the  identity  of  the  eight  days' 
invisibility  with  the  period  of  Quetzalcoatl's  wandering  and 
lying  dead  in  the  underworld,  which  was  followed  by  his  as- 
cension to  the  throne  of  the  eastern  heaven,  as  related  in  the 
myth,  give  plausibility  to  the  traditions  which  associate  the 
formation  of  the  Tonalamatl  with  the  Venus-period.  Seler 
suggests  —  and  this  is  perhaps  the  best  explanation  yet 
offered  —  that  the  Tonalamatl  is  the  product  of  an  indirect 
association  of  the  solar  year  (three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
days)  and  of  the  Venus-period  (five  hundred  and  eighty-four 
days),  for  the  least  common  multiple  of  the  numbers  of  days 
in  these  two  periods  is  twenty-nine  hundred  and  twenty 
days,  equal  to  eight  solar  years  and  five  Venus  years;  in 
associating  the  two,  he  says,  the  inventors  of  the  calendar 
lighted  upon  the  number  thirteen  (8  +  5),  and  hence  upon 
the  Tonalamatl  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  days.  If  this  be  the 
case,  the  belief  in  thirteen  heavens  and  thirteen  hours  of  the 
day  would  be  derivative  from  temporal  rather  than  spatial 
observations,  from  astronomy  rather  than  cosmography.  A 
somewhat  analogous  association  might  be  offered  in  connexion 
with  the  nine  of  the  heavens  and  the  nine  of  the  hours  of  the 
night;  for  just  as  there  are  four  signs  that  always  recur  as  the 
designations  of  the  solar  years,  so  for  the  Venus-period  there 
are  five  (since  five  hundred  and  eighty-four  divided  by  twenty 
leaves  four  as  divisor  of  the  signs),  and  the  sum  of  these  is 
nine. 

The  signs  which  inaugurate  the  Venus  periods  are  Cipactli 


104  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

("Crocodile"),  Coatl  ("Snake"),  Atl  ("Water"),  Acatl 
("Reed"),  and  Olin  ("Motion").  But  here  again  the  numerals 
enter  in  to  complicate  the  series,  so  that  while  the  day-signs 
which  inaugurate  the  Venus-periods  recur  in  groups  of  five, 
they  do  not  recur  with  the  same  numeral  until  the  lapse  of 
thirteen  times  five  periods.  This  great  cycle  of  Venus-days, 
comprising  sixty-five  repetitions  of  the  apparent  course  of  the 
planet,  is  also  a  common  multiple  of  the  solar  year  and  of  the 
Tonalamatl,  comprising  one  hundred  and  four  of  the  former 
and  one  hundred  and  forty-six  of  the  latter.  Thus  it  was  that 
at  the  end  of  one  hundred  and  four  years  of  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days  the  same  sign  and  number-series  recurred  in 
the  three  great  units  of  the  Aztec  calendar.  When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  prognostics  were  to  be  drawn  not  merely  from  the 
complex  relations  of  the  signs  to  their  place  in  each  of  the 
three  time-units,  with  their  respective  elaborations  into  cycles ; 
but  from  their  further  relations  with  the  regions  of  the  upper 
and  lower  worlds,  and  also  from  the  numerals,  which  had  good 
and  evil  values  of  their  own,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Mexican 
priests  were  in  possession  of  a  fount  of  craft  not  second  to  that 
of  the  astrologers  of  the  Old  World. 

That  so  complex  a  system  could  easily  give  rise  to  error  is 
evident,  and  it  is  probable  that,  as  tradition  asserts,  from 
time  to  time  corrections  were  made,  serving  as  the  inaugura- 
tion of  new  "Suns"  or  as  new  "inventions"  of  time.  It  may 
even  be  that  the  "Suns"  of  the  cosmogonic  myths  are  remi- 
niscences of  calendric  corrections,  and  it  is  at  least  a  striking 
coincidence  that  the  traditions  of  these  "Suns"  make  them 
four  in  number,  like  the  year-signs,  or  five  in  number,  like  the 
Venus-signs.  The  latter  series,  too,  is  distinctly  cosmogonic  in 
symbolism  —  Crocodile  suggests  the  creation  from  a  fish-like 
monster;  Snake,  the  falling  heavens;  Water,  the  "Water-Sun" 
and  the  deluge;  Reed  (the  fire-maker),  the  Sun  of  Fire;  Mo- 
tion, the  Sun  of  Wind,  or  perhaps  the  Earthquake.  But  what- 
ever be  the  value  of  these  symbolisms,  it  is  certain  that  the 


MEXICO  105 

Mexicans  themselves  associated  perilous  times  and  cataclysmic 
changes  with  the  rounding  out  of  their  cycles. 


IV.   LEGENDARY  HISTORY 

The  cosmogonic  and  calendric  cycles  (intimately  associated) 
profoundly  influenced  the  Mexican  conception  of  history. 
Orderly  arrangement  of  time  is  as  essential  to  an  advancing 
civilization  as  the  ordering  of  space,  and  it  is  natural  for  the 
human  imagination  to  form  all  of  its  temporal  conceptions 
into  a  single  dramatic  unity  —  a  World  Drama,  with  its  Crea- 
tion, Fall,  Redemption,  and  Judgement;  or  a  Cosmic  Evolution 
from  Nebula  to  Solar  System,  and  Solar  System  to  Nebula. 
In  the  making,  such  cosmic  dramas  start  from  these  roots: 
(i)  Cosmogony  and  Theogony,  for  which  there  is  no  simpler 
image  in  nature  than  the  creation  of  the  Life  of  Day  from  the 
Chaos  of  Night  at  the  command  of  the  Lord  of  Light;  (2) 
"Great  Years,"  or  calendric  cycles,  formed  by  calculations  of 
the  synodic  periods  of  sun  and  moon  and  wandering  stars,  or, 
as  in  the  curious  American  instance,  mainly  from  simple  day- 
counts  influenced  by  a  complex  symbolism  of  numbers  and 
by  an  awkward  notation;  (3)  the  recession  of  history,  back 
through  the  period  of  record  to  that  of  racial  reminiscence  and 
of  demigod  founders  and  culture-heroes.  Of  these  three  ele- 
ments, the  first  and  third  constitute  the  material,  while  the 
second  becomes  the  form-giver  —  the  measure  of  the  duration 
of  the  acts  and  scenes  of  the  drama,  as  it  were  —  adding,  how- 
ever, on  the  material  side,  the  portents  and  omens  imaged  in 
the  stars. 

The  Mexican  system  of  cosmic  Suns  is  a  capital  example  of 
the  first  element  —  each  Sun  introducing  a  creation  or  restora- 
tion, and  each  followed  by  an  elemental  destruction,  while 
all  are  meted  out  in  formal  cycles.  It  is  no  matter  for  wonder 
that  there  are  varying  versions  of  the  order  and  number  of  the 
cosmogonic  cycles,  nor  that  a  nebulous  and  legendary  history 


106  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

is  varyingly  fitted  into  the  cyclic  plan;  for  each  political  state 
and  cultural  centre  tended  to  develop  its  own  stories  in  con- 
nexion with  its  own  records  and  traditions.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  a  broad  scheme  of  historic  events  common  to  all  the 
more  advanced  Nahuatlan  peoples,  the  uniformity  of  which 
somewhat  argues  for  its  truly  historic  foundation.  This  is 
the  legend  which  assigns  to  the  plateau  of  Anahuac  three  suc- 
cessive dominations,  that  of  the  Toltec,  that  of  the  Chichimec 
nations,  and  that  of  the  Aztec  and  their  allies.  Although  the 
remote  Toltec  period  is  clouded  in  myth,  archaeology  tends 
to  support  the  truth  of  the  tales  of  legendary  Tollan,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  identifying  the  site  of  a  city  which  for  a 
long  period  had  been  the  centre  of  a  power  that  was,  by  Mexi- 
can standards,  to  be  accounted  civilized. 

The  general  characters  of  Toltec  civilization,  as  tradition 
shows  it,  are  those  recorded  by  Sahagun.11  The  Toltec  were 
clever  workmen  in  metals,  pottery,  jewellery,  and  fabrics, 
indeed,  in  all  the  industrial  arts.  They  were  notable  builders, 
adorning  the  walls  of  their  structures  with  skilful  mosaic.  They 
were  magicians,  astrologers,  medicine-men,  musicians,  priests, 
inventors  of  writing,  and  creators  of  the  calendar.  They  were 
mannerly  men,  and  virtuous,  and  lying  was  unknown  among 
them.  But  they  were  not  warlike  —  and  this  was  to  be  their 
ruin. 

Their  principal  deity  was  Quetzalcoatl,  and  his  chief  priest 
bore  the  same  name.  The  temple  of  the  god  was  the  greatest 
work  of  their  hands.  It  was  composed  of  four  chambers :  that 
to  the  east,  of  gold;  that  to  the  west,  encrusted  with  turquoise 
and  emerald;  that  to  the  south,  with  sea-shells  and  silver;  that 
to  the  north,  with  reddish  jasper  and  shell.  In  another  similar 
shrine,  plumage  of  the  several  colours  adorned  the  four  apart- 
ments. The  explicator  of  Codex  Vaticanus  A  says  that  Quetzal- 
coatl was  the  inventor  of  round  temples  (it  is  possible  that  the 
rotundity  of  his  shrines  was  due  to  the  presumption  that  the  wind 
does  not  love  corners),  and  that  he  founded  four;  in  the  first 


PLATE  XV 

The  temple  of  Xochicalco,  partially  restored.  The 
relief  band,  of  which  a  section  is  given  for  detail, 
shows  a  serpent;  a  human  figure,  doubtless  a  deity, 
is  seated  beneath  one  of  the  great  coils.  After 
photographs  in  the  Peabody  Museum. 


MEXICO  107 

princes  and  nobles  fasted;  the  second  was  frequented  by  the 
lower  classes;  the  third  was  "the  House  of  the  Serpent,"  and 
here  it  was  unlawful  to  lift  the  eyes  from  the  ground;  the  fourth 
was  "the  Temple  of  Shame,"  where  were  sent  sinners  and  men 
of  immoral  life.  Details  such  as  these  —  obviously  referring  to 
familiar  features  of  American  Indian  ritual  —  as  well  as  the 
numerous  myths  that  narrate  the  departure  of  Quetzalcoatl 
for  the  mysterious  Tlapallan,  followed  by  a  great  part  of  the 
Toltec  population,  clearly  belong  in  the  realm  of  fancy, 
shimmeringly  veiling  historic  facts.  Thus,  when  Ixtlilxochitl 
states  that  the  reign  of  each  Toltec  king  was  just  fifty-two 
years,  we  see  simply  a  statement  which  identifies  calendric  with 
political  periods;  yet  when  he  goes  on  with  the  qualification 
that  those  kings  who  died  under  such  a  period  were  replaced  by 
regents  until  a  new  cycle  could  begin  with  the  election  of  a 
new  king,  and  when  he  specifically  notes  that,  as  exceptions, 
Ilacomihua  reigned  fifty-nine  years,  and  Xiuhquentzin,  his 
queen,  four  years  after  him,  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  tradi- 
tion which  looks  much  more  like  history  than  myth  —  for 
there  is  no  mythic  reason  that  satisfies  this  shift.  Fact,  too, 
should  underlie  Sahagun's  naive  remark  that  the  Toltec  were 
expert  in  the  Mexican  tongue,  although  they  did  not  speak 
it  with  the  perfection  of  his  day,  and  again  that  communities 
which  spoke  a  pure  Nahua  were  composed  of  descendants  of 
Toltecs  who  remained  in  the  land  when  Quetzalcoatl  departed — 
for  behind  such  notions  should  lie  a  story  of  linguistic  super- 
session. 

Such,  indeed,  appears  to  have  been  the  course  of  events. 
The  date  of  the  founding  of  Tollan,  according  to  the  Annals 
of  Quauhtitlan,  is,  computed  in  our  era,  752  A.  D.  Ixtlilxochitl 
puts  the  beginning  of  the  Toltec  kingship  as  early  as  510  A.  D.; 
and  the  end  he  sets  in  the  year  959,  when  the  last  Toltec  king, 
Topiltzin  Quetzalcoatl,  was  overthrown  and  departed,  none 
knew  whither.  It  is  a  plausible  hypothesis  which  assumes  the 
historicity  of  this  event  and  which  accounts  for  the  myths  of 


io8  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  departure  of  Quetzalcoatl,  the  god,  as  due  in  part  to  a  con- 
fusion of  the  permutations  of  a  nature  deity  with  the  gesta  of 
an  earthly  hero  —  a  process  exemplified  in  the  Old  World  in  the 
tales  of  King  Arthur,  Celtic  god  and  British  hero-king.  It  is 
certain  that  from  an  early  date  the  civilization  of  the  Mexican 
plateau  was  racially  akin  to  that  of  the  Maya  in  the  south ;  it 
is  not  improbable  that  the  Toltec  represent  an  ancient  northern 
extension  of  Maya  power  (the  oldest  stratum  at  Tollan  shows 
Huastec  influences,  and  the  Huastec  are  of  Maya  kin);  and, 
finally,  when  the  political  overthrow  of  the  Toltec  was  accom- 
plished, and  their  leaders  fled  away  to  Tlapallan,  to  the  south- 
east, the  northern  barbarians  who  had  replaced  them  gradually 
learned  the  lesson  of  civilization  from  the  sporadic  groups 
which  remained  in  various  centres  after  the  capital  had  fallen  — 
Cholula,  Cuernavaca,  and  Teotihuacan,  cities  which  were  to 
figure  in  Nahuatlan  lore  as  the  centres  of  priestly  learning. 
Such  an  hypothesis  would  account  for  Sahagun's  statement 
that  the  Toltec  spoke  Nahua  imperfectly,  for  those  who  re- 
mained would  have  changed  to  this  language;  while  what  may 
well  be  an  historical  incident  of  the  period  of  change  is  Ixtlilxo- 
chitl's  account  of  the  reply  of  the  Toltec  king  of  Colhuacan 
to  the  invading  Chichimec,  refusing  to  pay  tribute,  for  "they 
held  the  country  from  their  ancestors,  to  whom  it  belonged, 
and  they  had  never  obeyed  or  payed  tribute  to  any  foreign 
lord  .  .  .  nor  recognized  other  master  than  the  Sun  and  their 
gods."  However,  less  able  in  arms  than  the  invaders,  they  fell 
to  no  great  force. 

The  Chichimec,  according  to  the  prevailing  accounts,  were 
a  congeries  of  wild  hunting  tribes,  cave-dwellers  by  preference, 
who  vaguely  and  imperfectly  absorbed  the  culture  that  had 
preceded  them  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  Ixtlilxochitl  has  it 
that,  under  the  leadership  of  a  chief  named  after  the  celestial 
dog  Xolotl,  they  entered  the  Toltec  domain  a  few  years  after 
the  fall  of  Tollan,  peaceably  possessing  themselves  of  an  almost 
deserted  land.  They  were  soon  followed  by  related  tribes, 


MEXICO  109 

among  whom  the  most  important  were  the  Acolhua,  found- 
ers of  Tezcuco;  while  later  came  the  Mexicans,  or  Aztec,  who 
wandered  obscurely  from  place  to  place  before  they  finally  es- 
tablished the  town  which  was  to  be  the  capital  of  their  empire. 
For  several  centuries,  as  the  chronicler  pictures  it,  these  re- 
lated peoples  warred  and  quarrelled  turbulently,  owning  the 
shadowy  suzerainty  of  "emperors"  whose  power  waxed  or 
waned  with  their  personal  force  —  altogether  such  a  picture 
as  is  presented  by  Mediaeval  Europe  after  the  recession  of  the 
Roman  Empire  before  the  incursive  barbarians.  Gradually, 
however,  just  as  in  Europe,  the  seed  of  the  elder  civilization 
took  root,  and  the  culture  which  the  Spaniards  discovered  grew 
and  consolidated. 

Its  leaders  were  not  the  Aztec,  but  the  related  Acolhua, 
whose  capital,  Tezcuco,  became  the  Athens  of  an  empire  of 
which  Tenochtitlan  was  to  be  the  Rome;  and  the  great  age  of 
Tezcuco  came  with  King  Nezahualcoyotl,  less  than  a  century 
before  the  appearance  of  Cortez.  Cautious  writers  point  to  the 
resemblances  between  the  career  and  character  of  this  monarch 
as  pictured  by  Ixtlilxochitl,  and  that  of  the  Scriptural  David: 
both,  in  their  youth,  are  hunted  and  persecuted  by  a  jealous 
king,  and  are  forced  into  exile  and  outlawry;  both  triumphantly 
overthrow  their  enemies  and  inaugurate  reigns  of  splendour, 
erecting  temples,  cultivating  the  arts,  and  reforming  the  state; 
both  are  singers  and  psalmists,  and  prophets  of  a  purified 
monotheism;  both  assent  to  the  execution  of  an  eldest  son  and 
heir  because  of  palace  intrigue;  and,  finally,  both,  in  the  hour 
of  temptation,  cause  an  honoured  thane  to  be  treacherously 
slain  in  order  that  they  may  possess  themselves  of  a  woman 
who  has  captivated  their  fancy.  In  each  case,  too,  the  queen 
dishonourably  won  becomes  the  mother  of  a  successor  whose 
reign  is  followed  by  a  decline  of  power,  for  Nezahualpilli  was 
the  last  of  the  great  Tezcucan  kings.  Certainly  the  parallels 
are  striking  and  the  chronicler  may  well  have  been  influenced 
by  Biblical  analogy  in  the  form  which  he  gives  his  stories;  but 


I  io  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

it  is  surely  not  unfair  to  remark  that  such  repetitions  of  event 
are  to  be  expected  in  a  world  whose  possibilities  are,  after  all, 
limited  in  number;  that,  for  example,  a  whole  series  of  similari- 
ties can  be  drawn  between  Inca  and  Aztec  history  (where  there 
is  no  suspicion  of  influence),  and  that  there  are  not  a  few 
striking  likenesses  of  the  characters  of  Nezahualcoyotl  and 
Huayna  Capac,  to  both  of  whom  is  ascribed  an  enlightened 
monotheism.  Various  fragments  of  Nezahualcoyotl's  poems  — 
or  such  as  bear  his  name  —  have  survived,  among  them  a 
lament  which  has  the  very  tone  of  the  Aztec  prayers  preserved 
by  Sahagun,  and  which,  indeed,  breathes  the  whole  world-weary 
dolour  of  Nahuatlan  religion.12 

"Harken  to  the  lamentations  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  communing 
with  himself  upon  the  fate  of  Empire  —  spoken  as  an  example  to 
others ! 

"O  king,  inquiet  and  insecure,  when  thou  art  dead,  thy  vassals 
shall  be  destroyed,  scattered  in  dark  confusion;  on  that  day  ruler- 
ship  will  no  longer  be  in  thy  hand,  but  with  God  the  Creator,  All- 
Powerful. 

"Who  hath  beheld  the  palace  and  court  of  the  king  of  old,  Tezo- 
zomoc,  how  flourishing  was  his  power  and  firm  his  tyranny,  now- 
overthrown  and  destroyed  —  will  he  think  to  escape?  Mockery  and 
deceit  is  this  world's  gift,  wherefore  let  all  be  consumed ! 

"Dismal  it  is  to  contemplate  the  prosperity  enjoyed  by  this  king, 
even  to  his  senility,  like  an  old  willow,  animated  by  desire  and  by 
ambition,  uplifting  himself  above  the  weak  and  humble.  Long  time 
did  the  green  and  the  flowers  offer  themselves  in  the  fields  of  spring- 
time, but  at  last,  worm-eaten  and  dried,  the  wind  of  death  seized 
him,  uprooted  him,  and  scattered  him  in  fragments  on  Earth's  soil. 
So,  also,  the  olden  king  Cozastli  passed  onward,  leaving  neither 
house  nor  lineage  to  preserve  his  memory. 

"With  such  reflections,  with  melancholy  song,  I  bring  again  the 
memory  of  the  flowery  springtime  gone,  and  of  the  end  of  Tezozomoc 
who  so  long  knew  its  joys.  Who,  barkening,  shall  withhold  his  tears? 


MEXICO  in 

Abundance  of  riches  and  varied  pleasures,  are  they  not  like  culled 
flowers,  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  and  at  the  end  cast  forth  stripped 
and  withered? 

"  Sons  of  kings,  sons  of  great  lords,  give  heed  and  consideration  to 
what  is  made  manifest  in  my  sad  and  lamenting  song,  as  I  relate 
how  passed  the  flowery  springtime  and  the  end  of  the  powerful  king 
Tezozomoc!  Ah,  who,  harkening,  will  be  hard  enough  to  restrain 
his  tears  —  for  all  these  varied  flowers,  these  pleasures  sweet,  wither 
and  end  with  this  passing  life! 

"Today  we  possess  the  abundance  and  beauty  of  the  blossoming 
summer,  and  harken  to  the  melody  of  birds,  where  the  butterflies 
sip  sweet  nectar  from  fragrant  petals.  But  all  is  like  culled  flowers, 
that  pass  from  hand  to  hand,  and  at  the  end  are  cast  forth,  stripped 
and  withered!" 


V.     AZTEC  MIGRATION-MYTHS13 

Common  tradition  makes  of  the  Aztec,  or  Mexica,  late 
comers  into  the  central  valley,  although  they  are  regarded  as 
belonging  to  the  general  movement  of  tribes  known  as  the 
Chichimec  immigration.  Apparently  they  entered  obscurely 
in  the  wake  of  kindred  groups,  perhaps  in  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  century;  wandered  from  place  to  place  for  a  period; 
and  finally  settled  on  the  swampy  islands  of  Lake  Tezcuco, 
founding  Tenochtitlan,  or  Mexico,  which  eventually  became 
the  capital  of  empire.  The  founding  of  the  city  is  variously 
dated  —  one  group  of  references  placing  it  at  or  near  1 140, 
and  another  assigning  dates  from  1321  to  1327,  variations 
which  may  refer  to  an  earlier  and  later  occupation  by  different 
or  related  tribal  groups.  The  Aztec  formed  a  league  with 
their  kindred  neighbours,  the  Tecpanec  of  Tlacopan  and  the 
Acolhua  of  Tezcuco,  in  which  their  own  role  was  a  secondary 
one,  until  finally,  under  Axayacatl,  Tizoc,  and  Ahuitzotl,  the 
immediate  predecessors  of  the  last  Montezuma  (whose  name 
is  variously  rendered  Moteuhcoma,  Moteczuma,  Motecuma, 


H2  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Motecuhzoma,  etc.),  they  rose  to  undisputed  supremacy. 
This,  however,  was  in  war  and  politics,  for  Tezcuco,  previous 
to  the  Conquest,  was  still  the  seat  of  Mexican  learning. 

Many  of  the  Nahuatlan  peoples  retained  mythic  remi- 
niscences of  the  period  and  course  of  their  migrations;  but  of 
the  narratives  which  remain  hardly  two  are  in  accord,  although 
most  of  them  mention  the  "House  of  Seven  Caves"  (Chico- 
moztoc)  as  a  place  of  dispersal.  Back  of  this  several  of  the 
narratives  go,  giving  details  of  which  the  purely  mythic  char- 
acter is  evident,  for  the  leaders  named  are  gods  and  eponymous 
sires,  while  tribes  of  utterly  unrelated  stocks  are  given  a 
common  source.  Thus,  according  to  Mendieta's  account,14 
at  Chicomoztoc  dwelt  Iztacmixcoatl  ("the  White  Cloud- 
Serpent")  and  his  wife  Ilancue  ("the  Old  Woman"),  from 
whom  were  sprung  the  ancestors  —  "  as  from  the  sons  of  Noah  " 
—  of  the  leading  nations  of  Mexico,  excepting  that  the  Toltec 
were  descended  from  Ixtacmixcoatl  by  a  second  wife,  Chimal- 
matl  (or  Chimalma),  who  is  named  as  mother  of  Quetzalcoatl, 
and  who  is  represented  elsewhere  as  the  priestess  or  ancestress 
of  the  Aztec  in  their  fabled  first  home,  Aztlan. 

Sahagun  15  gives  a  version  starting  with  the  landing  of  the 
ancestral  Mexicans  at  Panotlan  ("Place  of  Arrival  by  Sea"), 
whence  he  says  that  they  proceeded  to  Guatemala,  and  thence, 
guided  by  a  priest,  to  Tamoanchan,  where  the  Amoxoaque, 
or  wise  men,  left  them,  departing  toward  the  east  with  their 
ritual  manuscripts  and  promising  to  return  at  the  end  of  the 
world.  Only  four  of  the  learned  ones  remained  with  the 
colonists  —  Oxomoco,  Cipactonal,  Tlaltetecuin,  and  Xochi- 
cauaca  —  and  it  was  they  who  invented  the  calendar  and  its 
interpretation  in  order  that  men  might  have  a  guide  for  their 
conduct.  From  Tamoanchan  the  colonists  went  to  Teoti- 
huacan,  where  they  made  sacrifices  and  erected  pyramids  in 
honour  of  the  Sun  and  of  the  Moon.  Here  also  they  elected 
their  first  kings,  and  here  they  buried  them,  regarding  them 
as  gods  and  saying  of  them,  not  that  they  had  died,  but  that 


PLATE   XVI 

Section,  comprising  about  one  third,  of  the 
"Map  Tlotzin,"  after  Aubin,  Memoir es  sur  la  pein- 
ture  didactique  (Mission  scientifique  au  Mexique  et 
dans  FAmerique  Centrale),  Plate  I.  The  map  is 
described  by  Boturini  as  a  "map  on  prepared  skin 
representing  the  genealogy  of  the  Chichimec  em- 
perors from  Tlotzin  to  the  last  king,  Don  Fernando 
Cortes  Ixtilxochitzin."  Two  of  the  six  "caves," 
or  ancestral  abodes  of  the  Chichimec,  shown  on  the 
whole  map,  are  here  represented.  At  the  right, 
marked  by  a  bat  in  the  ceiling,  is  Tzinacanoztoc, 
"the  Cave  of  the  Bat";  below  it,  in  Nahuatl,  being 
the  inscription,  "Tzinacanoztoc,  here  was  born 
Ixtilxochitzin."  The  second  cave  shown  is  Quauh- 
yacac,  "At  the  End  of  the  Trees";  and  here  are 
shown  a  group  of  ancestral  Chichimec  chieftains, 
whose  wanderings  are  indicated  in  the  figures  below. 
The  Nahuatlan  text  below  the  figure  of  the  cave  is 
translated:  "All  came  to  establish  themselves  there 
at  Quauhyacoc,  where  they  were  yet  all  together. 
Thence  departed  Amacui;  with  his  wife  he  went  to 
Colhuatlican.  Thence  again  departed  Nopal;  he 
went  with  his  wife  to  Huexotla.  Thence  again  de- 
parted Tlotli;  he  went  with  his  wife  to  Oztoticpac." 


MEXICO  113 

they  had  just  awakened  from  a  dream  called  life.  "Hence  the 
ancients  were  in  the  habit  of  saying  that  when  men  die,  they 
in  reality  began  to  live,"  addressing  them:  "Lord  (or  Lady), 
awake!  the  day  is  coming!  Already  the  first  light  of  dawn 
appears!  The  song  of  the  yellow-plumed  birds  is  heard,  and 
the  many-coloured  butterflies  are  taking  wing!"  Even  at 
Tamoanchan  a  dispersal  of  the  tribes  had  begun:  the  Olmac 
and  the  Huastec  had  departed  toward  the  east,  and  from  them 
had  come  the  invention  of  the  intoxicating  drink,  pulque,  and 
(apparently  as  a  result  of  this)  the  power  of  creating  magical 
illusions;  for  they  could  make  a  house  seem  to  be  in  flames 
when  nothing  of  the  sort  was  taking  place,  they  could  show 
fish  in  empty  waters,  and  they  could  even  make  it  appear  that 
they  had  cut  their  own  bodies  into  morsels.  But  the  peoples 
associated  with  the  Mexicans  departed  from  Teotihuacan. 
First  went  the  Toltec,  then  the  Otomi,  who  settled  in  Coatepec, 
and  last  the  Nahua;  they  traversed  the  deserts,  seeking  a 
home,  each  tribe  guided  by  its  own  gods.  Worn  by  pains  and 
famines,  they  at  length  came  to  the  Place  of  Seven  Caves, 
where  they  celebrated  their  respective  rites.  The  Toltec  were 
the  first  to  go  forth,  finally  settling  at  Tollan.  The  people  of 
Michoacan  departed  next,  to  be  followed  by  the  Tepanec, 
Acolhua,  Tlascaltec,  and  other  Nahuatlan  tribes,  and  last  of 
all  by  the  Aztec,  or  Mexicans  proper,  who,  led  by  their  god, 
came  to  Colhuacan.  Even  here  they  were  not  allowed  to  rest, 
but  were  compelled  to  resume  their  wanderings,  and,  passing 
from  place  to  place  —  "all  designated  by  their  names  in  the 
ancient  paintings  which  form  the  annals  of  this  people"  — 
finally  they  came  again  to  Colhuacan,  and  thence  to  the 
neighbouring  island  where  Tenochtitlan  was  founded. 

Of  the  "ancient  paintings,"  mentioned  by  Sahagun,  several 
are  preserved,16  portraying  the  journey  of  the  Aztec  from 
Aztlan,  their  mythical  fatherland,  which  is  represented  and 
described  as  located  beyond  the  waters,  or  as  surrounded  by 
waters;  and  the  first  stage  of  the  migration  is  said  to  have 


114  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

been  made  by  boat.  For  this  reason  numerous  speculations  as 
to  its  locality  have  placed  it  overseas  —  in  Asia  or  on  the 
North-west  Coast  of  America  —  although  the  more  con- 
servative opinion  follows  Seler,  who  holds  that  it  represents 
simply  an  island  shrine  or  temple-centre  of  the  national  god, 
and  hence  a  focus  of  national  organization  rather  than  of  tribal 
origin.  According  to  the  Codex  Boturini  (one  of  the  migra- 
tion picture-records),  as  interpreted  by  Seler  and  others,  after 
leaving  Aztlan,  represented  as  an  island  upon  which  stood  the 
shrine  of  Huitzilopochtli  in  care  of  the  tribal  ancestor  and 
his  wife  Chimalma,  the  Aztec  landed  at  Colhuacan  (or  Teo- 
colhuacan,  i.  e.  "the  divine  Colhuacan"),  where  they  united 
with  eight  related  tribes,  the  Uexotzinca,  Chalca,  Xochimilca, 
Cuitlauaca,  Malinalca,  Chichimeca,  Tepaneca,  and  Matla- 
tzinca,  who  are  said  to  have  had  their  origin  in  a  cavern  of  a 
crook-peaked  mountain.  From  Colhuacan,  led  by  a  priestess 
and  four  priests,  they  journeyed  to  a  place  (represented  in 
the  codex  by  a  broken  tree)  which  Seler  identifies  as  Tamoan- 
chan,  or  "the  House  of  Descent,"  and  which  is  also  the  "House 
of  Birth,"  for  it  is  here  that  souls  are  sent  from  the  thirteenth 
heaven  to  be  born.  Thence,  after  a  sojourn  of  five  years,  the 
Aztec,  perhaps  urged  on  by  some  portent  of  which  the  broken 
tree  is  a  symbol,  took  their  departure  alone,  leaving  their 
kindred  tribes;  and  guided  by  Huitzilopochtli,  they  came  to 
the  land  of  melon-cacti  and  mesquite,  where  the  god  gave 
them  bow  and  arrows  and  a  snare.  This  land  they  called 
Mimixcoua  ("Land  of  the  Cloud-Serpent");  and  it  was  here 
that  they  changed  their  name,  for  the  first  time  calling  them- 
selves "Mexica"  —  an  appellation  which  Sahagun  describes 
as  formed  from  that  of  a  chieftain,  who  was  also  an  inspired 
priest,  ruling  over  the  nation  while  they  were  in  the  land  of 
the  Chichimec,  and  whose  cradle,  it  was  said,  was  a  maguey 
plant,  whence  he  was  called  Mexicatl  ("Mescal  Hare").  Per- 
haps this  is  the  incident  represented  in  the  curious  picture 
which  shows  human  beings  clad  in  skins  and  with  ceremonial 


MEXICO  115 

face-paintings,  recumbent  upon  desert  plants;  and  no  doubt 
it  signifies  some  important  change  in  cult,  such,  perhaps,  as 
the  introduction  of  the  mescal  intoxication,  with  its  attendant 
visions.  It  may,  too,  portray  the  institution  of  human  sacri- 
fice; for  the  next  station  indicated  on  the  chart,  Cuextecat- 
lichocayan  ("Where  the  Huastec  Weep"),  was  the  scene  of 
the  offering  of  the  Huastec  captives  by  arrow-slaying  (see 
p.  79,  supra).  From  this  place  the  journey  led  to  Coatlicamac 
("In  the  Jaws  of  the  Serpent"),  where  the  people  "tied  the 
years"  and  kindled  the  new  fire;  and  from  Coatlicamac  they 
made  their  way  to  Tollan,  with  the  reaching  of  which  the 
first  stage  of  the  migration-story  may  be  said  to  end.  Seler 
regards  the  whole  as  a  myth  of  the  world-quarters:  Tamoan- 
chan  is  the  West,  as  in  the  Books  of  Fate;  Mimixcoua  is  the 
North;  Cuextecatlichocayan  is  the  East,  as  the  reference  to 
the  Huastec  shows;  and  Coatlicamac  is  the  South;  finally, 
Tollan  is  the  Middle  Place,  being  regarded,  like  other  sacred 
cities,  as  the  navel  of  the  world. 

A  second  stage  of  the  myth  depicts  the  journey  of  the 
Aztec  from  Tollan,  through  many  stops,  back  to  Colhuacan, 
until  at  last  they  came  to  the  site  of  Tenochtitlan.  It  is  said 
that  as  the  tribes  halted  by  the  waters  of  Tezcuco  they  beheld 
a  great  eagle  perched  on  a  cactus  growing  from  a  wave-washed 
rock;  and  while  they  gazed  the  bird  ascended  to  the  rising 
sun  with  a  serpent  in  his  talons.  This  was  regarded  as  a 
divine  augury,  and  here  Tenochtitlan  was  founded.  Such  is 
the  tradition  which  gives  modern  Mexico  its  national  emblem. 
The  places  of  sojourn  between  Tollan  and  Tenochtitlan,  as 
represented  in  the  writings,  are  all  with  fair  certainty  identified 
with  towns  or  sites  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  so  that  here  we 
are  in  the  realm  of  history  rather  than  of  myth.  Historic 
also  are  the  names  (and  approximate  dates)  of  the  nine  lords 
or  emperors  who  ruled  from  the  Mexican  capital  before  the 
coming  of  the  Spaniards  brought  the  native  power  to  its  un- 
happy end. 


n6  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

The  fifth  of  the  Aztec  monarchs  was  the  first  Montezuma. 
Of  him  it  is  told  (the  story  is  recorded  by  Fray  Diego  Duran)  17 
that  after  he  had  extended  his  realm  and  consolidated  his  rule, 
he  decided  to  send  an  embassy  to  the  home  of  his  fathers, 
especially  since  he  had  heard  that  the  mother  of  Huitzilo- 
pochtli  was  still  living  there.  He  summoned  his  counsellor 
Tlacaelel,  who  brought  before  him  an  aged  man  learned  in 
the  nation's  history.  "The  place  you  name,"  said  the  old 
man,  "is  called  Aztlan  ['White'],  and  near  it,  in  the  midst  of 
the  water,  is  a  mountain  called  Culhuacan  ['Crooked  Hill']. 
In  its  caverns  our  fathers  dwelt  for  many  years,  much  at  their 
ease,  and  they  were  known  as  Mexitin  and  Azteca.  They  had 
quantities  of  duck,  heron,  cormorants,  and  other  waterfowl, 
while  birds  of  red  and  of  yellow  plumage  diverted  them  with 
song.  They  had  fine  large  fish ;  handsome  trees  lined  the  shores ; 
and  the  streams  flowed  through  meadows  under  the  cypress 
and  alder.  In  canoes  they  fared  upon  the  waters,  and  they 
had  floating  gardens  bearing  maize,  chile,  tomatoes,  beans, 
and  all  the  vegetables  which  we  now  eat  and  which  we  have 
brought  thence.  But  after  they  left  this  island  and  set  foot 
on  land,  all  this  was  changed:  the  herbs  pricked  them,  the 
stones  wounded,  and  the  fields  were  full  of  thistle  and  of 
thorn.  Snakes  and  venomous  vermin  swarmed  everywhere, 
while  all  about  were  lions  and  tigers  and  other  dangerous  and 
hurtful  beasts.  So  is  it  written  in  my  books."  Then  the  king 
dispatched  his  messengers  with  gifts  for  the  mother  of  Huit- 
zilopochtli.  They  came  first  to  Coatepec,  near  Tollan,  and 
there  called  upon  their  demons  (for  they  were  magicians)  to 
guide  them;  and  thus  they  reached  Culhuacan,  the  mountain 
in  the  sea,  where  they  beheld  the  fisherfolk  and  the  floating 
gardens.  The  people  of  the  land,  finding  that  the  foreigners 
spoke  their  tongue,  asked  what  god  they  worshipped,  and 
when  told  that  it  was  Huitzilopochtli  and  that  they  were 
come  with  a  present  for  Coatlicue,  his  mother,  if  she  yet  lived, 
they  conducted  the  strangers  to  the  steward  of  the  god's 


MEXICO  117 

mother.  When  they  had  delivered  their  message,  stating  their 
mission  from  the  King  and  his  counsellor,  the  steward  an- 
swered: "Who  is  this  Montezuma  and  who  is  Tlacaelel? 
Those  who  went  from  here  bore  no  such  names;  they  were 
called  Tecacatetl,  Acacitli,  Oselopan,  Ahatl,  Xomimitl,  Auexotl, 
Uicton,  Tenoch,  chieftains  of  the  tribes,  and  with  them  were 
the  four  guardians  of  Huitzilopochtli."  The  messengers  an- 
swered: "Sir,  we  own  that  we  do  not  know  these  lords,  nor 
have  we  seen  them,  for  all  are  long  dead."  "Who,  then,  killed 
them?  We  who  are  left  here  are  all  yet  living.  Who,  then, 
are  they  who  live  to-day?"  The  messengers  told  of  the  old 
man  who  retained  the  record  of  the  journey,  and  they  asked 
to  be  taken  before  the  mother  of  the  god  to  discharge  their 
duty.  The  old  man,  who  was  the  steward  of  Coatlicue,  led 
them  forward;  but  the  mountain,  as  they  ascended,  was  like 
a  pile  of  loose  sand,  in  which  they  sank.  "What  makes  you 
so  heavy?"  asked  the  guide,  who  moved  lightly  on  the  sur- 
face; and  they  answered,  "We  eat  meat  and  drink  cocoa." 
"It  is  this  meat  and  drink,"  said  the  elder,  "that  prevent  you 
from  reaching  the  place  where  your  fathers  dwelt;  it  is  this 
that  has  brought  death  among  you.  We  know  naught  of 
these,  naught  of  the  luxury  that  drags  you  down;  with  us  all 
is  simple  and  meagre."  Thereupon  he  took  them  up,  and  swift 
as  wind  brought  them  into  the  presence  of  Coatlicue.  The 
goddess  was  foul  and  frightful  to  behold,  and  like  one  near 
death,  for  she  was  in  mourning  for  her  son's  departure;  but 
when  she  heard  the  message  and  beheld  the  rich  gifts,  she  sent 
word  to  her  son,  reminding  him  of  the  prophecy  that  he  had 
made  at  the  time  of  his  going  forth:  how  he  should  lead  the 
seven  tribes  into  the  lands  they  were  to  possess,  making  war 
and  reducing  cities  and  nations  to  his  service;  and  how  at  last 
he  should  be  overthrown,  even  as  he  had  overthrown  others, 
and  his  weapons  cast  to  earth.  "Then,  O  mother  mine,  my 
time  will  be  accomplished,  and  I  will  return  fleeing  to  thy  lap, 
but  until  then  I  shall  know  naught  save  pain.  Therefore  give 


n8  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

me  two  pairs  of  sandals,  one  for  going  forth  and  one  for  re- 
turning, and  four  pairs  of  sandals,  two  pair  for  going  forth 
and  two  for  returning."  "When  he  thinks  on  these  words," 
continued  the  goddess,  "and  remembers  that  his  mother 
yearns  after  him,  bring  to  him  this  mantle  of  nequen  and  this 
breechband."  With  these  gifts  she  dismissed  the  messengers; 
and  as  they  descended,  the  steward  of  Coatlicue  explained 
how  the  people  of  Aztlan  kept  their  youth,  for  when  they 
grew  old,  they  climbed  the  mountain,  and  the  climbing  re- 
newed their  years.  So  the  messengers  returned,  by  the  way 
they  had  come,  to  King  Montezuma. 

VI.   SURVIVING   PAGANISM 

In  1502  Montezuma  Xocoyotzin  ("Montezuma  the  Young") 
was  elected  Emperor  of  Mexico,  assuming  a  pomp  and  pride 
unknown  to  his  predecessors.  Five  years  later,  in  1507,  the 
Aztec  "tied  the  years"  and  for  the  last  time  kindled  the  new 
fire  on  the  breast  of  a  noble  captive.  Ominous  portents  began 
to  appear  with  the  new  cycle,  and  the  chronicles  abounded 
with  imaginations  of  disaster.18  The  temple  turret  of  the  war- 
god  was  burned;  another  shrine  was  destroyed  by  fire  from 
heaven,  thunderlessly  fallen  in  the  midst  of  rain;  a  tree-headed 
comet  was  seen;  Lake  Tezcuco  overflowed  its  banks  for  no 
cause;  a  rock  which  the  King  had  ordered  made  into  a  sacrificial 
altar  refused  to  be  moved,  saying  to  the  workmen  that  the 
Lord  of  Creation  would  not  suffer  it;  twins  and  monsters  were 
born,  and  there  were  nightly  cries,  as  of  women  in  travail  - 

"Lamentings  heard  i'  the  air;  strange  screams  of  death, 
And  prophesying  with  accents  terrible 
Of  dire  combustion  and  confused  events 
New-hatched  to  the  woeful  time." 

Fishermen  caught  a  strange  bird  with  a  crystal  in  its  head,  and 
in  the  crystal,  as  in  a  mirror,  Montezuma  beheld  unheard-of 


PLATE  XVII 

Interior  of  chamber,  Mitla,  showing  type  of  mural 
decoration  peculiar  to  this  region.  After  photograph 
in  the  Peabody  Museum. 


:vvivN', •>  ',> .  .   .  vvj^2  flfc'o^ 

iM-V^--  >  -'^ '.'- ' '.  ?:<*^<  -E^a-fri 
;\-\^  .V£-'^§ 


II 
» f  ? 


^yli^i^' 


MEXICO  119 

warriors,  armed  and  slaying.  Most  terrible  of  all,  a  huge 
pyramid  of  fire  appeared  in  the  east,  night  after  night,  corus- 
cating with  points  of  brilliance.  In  his  terror  Montezuma  sum- 
moned old  Nezahualpilli  of  Tezcuco,  noted  as  an  astrologer,  to 
interpret  the  sign;  and  this  King,  whose  star  was  in  the  decline, 
took  perhaps  a  grim  satisfaction  in  reading  from  the  portents 
the  early  overthrow  of  the  empire.  Montezuma,  it  is  said,  put 
the  interpretation  to  test,  challenging  Nezahualpilli  to  the 
divinatory  game  of  tlachtli;  but  just  on  the  point  of  winning, 
the  monarch  lost  and  returned  discomfited.  Another  tale, 
doubtless  apocryphal,  tells  how  Papantzin,  sister  of  Monte- 
zuma, died  and  was  buried;  shortly  afterward  she  was  found 
sitting  by  a  fountain  in  the  palace  garden,  and  when  the  lords 
were  assembled  in  her  presence,  she  told  how  a  winged  youth 
had  taken  her  to  the  banks  of  a  river,  beside  which  she  saw 
the  bones  of  dead  men  and  heard  their  groans,  while  upon  the 
waters  were  strange  craft,  manned  by  fair  and  bearded  warriors 
coming  to  possess  the  kingdom.  Certain  it  is,  at  least,  that  the 
hearts  of  all  men  regarded  the  return  of  Quetzalcoatl  as  near  — 
the  oppressed  looking  with  hope,  the  powerful  with  dread,  to 
the  coming  of  the  god  —  and  the  vestments  of  the  deity  were 
among  the  first  gifts  with  which  the  unhappy  Mexican  sought 
to  win  the  favour  of  Cortez. 

Nevertheless  the  memory  of  the  King  did  not  fade  from  na- 
tive imagination  with  the  fall  of  his  throne.  Stories  of  the 
greatness,  the  pride  and  the  destruction  of  Montezuma  spread; 
they  became  confused  with  older  legends;  and  finally  the 
Mexican  monarch  himself  became  the  subject  of  myth.  Far 
to  the  north  the  Papago  19  still  show  the  cave  of  Montezuma, 
whom  they  have  identified  with  Sihu,  the  elder  brother  of 
Coyote;  and  they  tell  how  Montezuma,  coming  forth  from  a 
cave  dug  by  the  Creator,  led  the  Indian  nations  thence.  At 
first  all  went  happily,  and  men  and  beasts  conversed  with  one 
another  until  a  flood  ended  this  age  of  felicity,  only  Montezuma 
and  his  brother,  Coyote,  escaping  in  arks  which  they  made  for 


120  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

themselves.  When  the  waters  had  subsided,  they  aided  in  the 
repeopling  of  the  world,  and  to  Montezuma  was  assigned  the 
lordship  of  the  new  race,  but,  being  swollen  with  pride  and 
arrogance  by  his  high  dignity,  he  failed  to  rule  justly.  The 
Great  Spirit,  to  punish  him,  removed  the  sun  to  a  remote  part 
of  the  heavens;  whereupon  Montezuma  set  about  building  a 
house  which  should  reach  the  skies,  and  whose  apartments  he 
lined  with  jewels  and  precious  metals.  This  the  Great  Spirit 
destroyed  with  his  thunder;  but  Montezuma  was  still  rebel- 
lious, whereupon  as  his  supreme  punishment,  the  Great  Spirit 
sent  an  insect  to  summon  the  Spaniards  from  the  East  for  his 
destruction. 

How  far  the  political  influence  of  the  Aztec  Empire  extended 
is  not  clearly  certain,  but  there  are  numerous  indications  that  its 
cultural  relations  were  very  wide.  There  are  rites  and  myths  of 
the  Pueblo  Indians,  Hopi  and  Zufii,  whose  resemblance  to  the 
Mexican  seems  surely  to  imply  a  connexion  not  too  remote; 
while  far  to  the  south,  among  the  Nahua  of  Lake  Nicaragua, 
the  creator  pair  and  ruling  gods,  Tamagostad  and  Qipattoval, 
are  identical  with  the  Mexican  generative  couple,  Oxomoco 
and  Cipactonal.20 

In  outlying  districts  today  the  less-touched  Nahuatlan  tribes 
preserve  their  essential  paganism,  and  Lumholtz's  and  Preuss's 
accounts  21  of  the  pantheons  of  the  Cora  and  Huichol  Indians 
give  us  a  living  image  of  what  must  have  been  the  ancestral 
religion  of  the  Nahuatlan  tribes,  at  least  in  the  crude  days  of 
their  wanderings.  Father  Sun,  say  the  Cora,  is  fierce  in  the 
summer-time,  slaying  men  and  animals;  but  Chuvalete,  the 
Morning  Star,  keeps  watch  over  him  to  prevent  him  from 
harming  the  people.  Morning  Star  is  cool  and  dislikes  heat, 
and  once  he  shot  the  Sun,  causing  him  to  fall  to  earth;  but  an 
old  man  restored  him  to  the  heavens,  giving  him  a  new  start, 
Chuvalete  is  the  first  friend  of  the  Cora  among  the  gods,  and 
it  is  to  him  that  they  address  their  prayers  as  they  go  to  the 
spring  to  bathe  in  the  early  dawn;  they  call  him,  "Elder 


MEXICO  121 

Brother,"  just  as  the  Earth  is  "Our  Mother"  and  the  Sun  "Our 
Father."  The  Water  Serpent  of  the  West,  the  Moon,  the  Winds, 
the  Rain,  the  Lightning,  —  all  these  are  familiar  deities. 
Preuss  22  calls  attention  to  the  striking  emphasis  which  the 
Cora  place  on  the  power  of  thought:  the  leaders  of  the  cere- 
monies are  called  "thinkers"  and  in  their  prayers  and  rites  the 
conception  of  a  magical  preservative  and  creative  power  in 
thought  frequently  recurs,  not  only  as  a  power  of  priests,  who 
have  obtained  it  through  purification,  but  as  the  essential 
power  of  the  gods.  Thus,  of  the  sun  about  to  rise: 

"Our  Father  in  Heaven  thinks  upon  his  Earth,  our  Father  the 

Shining  One. 

There  he  is,  on  the  other  side  of  the  World. 
He  thinks  with  his  Thought,  our  Father,  the  Shining  One. 
He  remembers,  too,  what  he  is,  our  Father,  the  Shining  One." 

And  again  it  is  the  sacred  words  handed  down  in  ritual  through 
which  men  acquire  that  mystical  participation  in  the  divine 
power  that  preserves  them  in  life : 

"  Here  are  present  his  Words,  which  he  has  given  to  us,  his  children, 
Wherewith  we  live  and  continue  in  the  World. 
Indeed,  all  his  Words  are  here  present,  which  he  has  uttered  and 

left  unto  us. 
Here  leaves  he  unto  his  children  his  Thought." 

The  Huichol  have  a  more  populous  pantheon.  Tatevali 
("Grandfather  Fire")  is  the  deity  of  life  and  health,  and  also 
of  shamans  and  prophesying.  Great-grandfather  Deer-Tail 
is  likewise  a  fire-god  and  a  singing  shaman;  he  is  the  son  of 
Grandfather  Fire  and  yet  his  elder;  for,  it  is  said,  Great- 
grandfather Deer-Tail  is  the  spark  produced  in  striking  flint, 
while  Grandfather  Fire  is  the  flame  fed  by  wood.  Father  Sun 
is  another  important  deity  who  was  created,  they  say,  when 
the  Corn  Mother  (or  the  Eagle  Mother,  as  some  have  it)  threw 
her  young  son,  armed  with  bow  and  arrows,  into  an  oven, 


122  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

whence  he  emerged  as  the  divinity.  Setting  Sun  is  the  assis- 
tant of  Father  Sun;  and  with  the  Moon,  who  is  a  Grandmother, 
he  helps  to  keep  Tokakami,  the  black  and  blood-smeared  god 
of  death,  from  leaving  his  underworld  abode  to  devour  the 
Indians.  Tamats,  the  Elder  Brother,  is  divinity  of  wind  and 
air  and  messenger  of  the  gods; 23  the  cock  belongs  to  him,  be- 
cause it  follows  the  course  of  the  Sun  and  always  knows  where 
the  Sun  is;  and  he  is  also  the  deity  who  conquered  the  under- 
world people  and  put  the  world  into  shape.  He  appears  in  dif- 
ferent forms  (like  Tezcatlipoca),  now  a  wolf,  now  a  deer,  a 
pine-tree,  a  whirlwind;  and  it  is  he  who  taught  the  ancients 
"all  they  had  to  do  in  order  to  comply  with  what  the  gods 
wanted  at  the  five  points  of  the  world."  There  are  goddesses, 
too.  Takotsi  Nakawe  ("Grandmother  Growth")  is  the  Earth 
goddess  who  gives  long  life  and  is  the  mother  of  the  armadillo, 
the  peccary,  and  the  bear;  to  her  belong  maize,  and  squash, 
and  beans,  and  sheep;  she  is  water,  likewise,  and  is  a  Rain- 
Serpent  in  the  east.  Rain-Serpent  goddesses  live  in  each  of  the 
Quarters  —  she  of  the  east  is  red,  and  the  flowers  of  spring  are 
her  skirt;  she  of  the  west  is  white,  like  a  white  cloud;  blue  is 
the  Rain-Serpent  goddess  of  the  south,  and  to  her  belong  seeds 
and  singing  shamans;  while  the  Rain-Serpent  goddess  of  the 
north,  whose  name  means  "Rain  and  Fog  hanging  in  the  Trees 
and  Grass,"  is  spotted.  Another  goddess  is  Young  Mother 
Eagle,  the  Sun's  mother,  and  it  is  she  who  holds  the  world  in 
her  talons  and  guards  everything;  the  stars  are  her  dress. 
With  Grandmother  Growth  beneath,  Young  Mother  Eagle 
above,  and  the  four  Rain-Serpent  goddesses,  the  six  cardinal 
points  of  the  world  are  defined.  It  will  be  observed,  too,  that 
the  goddesses  are  deities  of  the  feminine  element,  earth  and 
water;  while  the  gods  are  divinities  of  the  masculine  elements, 
fire  and  air. 

Beliefs  such  as  these  inevitably  suggest  those  of  the  older 
Mexico,  and  similarly  in  many  of  the  rites  of  these  Indians 
there  are  analogies  to  Aztec  cult.  Perhaps  most  striking  of  all 


MEXICO  123 

is  the  elaborate  and  partly  mystical  adoration  of  the  hikuli, 
or  peyote  (cacti  of  the  genus  Lophophora),  to  which  are  ascribed 
mantic  power  and  the  induction  of  ecstacy;  and  in  which,  no 
doubt,  we  see  the  marvellous  plant  which  the  Aztec  encountered 
in  their  migration.  The  cult  extends  to  tribes  remote  in  the 
north  and  is  not  without  a  touch  of  welcome  poetry,  as  in  the 
Tarahumare  song  given  by  Lumholtz  24  — 

"Beautiful  lily,  in  bloom  this  morning,  guard  me! 
Drive  away  sorcery!     Make  me  grow  old ! 

Let  me  reach  the  age  at  which  I  have  to  take  up  a  walking-stick! 
I  thank  thee  for  exhaling  thy  fragrance,  there  where  thou  art 
standing!" 


CHAPTER  IV 
YUCATAN 

I.  THE  MAYA 

NATIVE  American  civilization  attained  its  apogee  among 
the  Maya.  This  is  not  true  in  a  political  sense,  for, 
though  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the  Maya  remembered  a 
past  political  greatness,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  had 
ever  been,  either  in  power  or  in  organization,  a  rival  of  such 
states  as  the  Aztec  and  Inca.  The  Mayan  cities  had  been  con- 
federate in  their  unions  rather  than  national,  aristocratic  in 
their  governments  rather  than  monarchic ;  and  in  their  great- 
est unity  the  power  of  their  strongest  rulers,  the  lords  of  Ma- 
yapan,  appears  to  have  been  that  of  feudal  suzerains,  or  at 
best  of  insecure  tyrants.  Politically  the  Mayan  cities  present 
somewhat  the  aspect  of  the  loose-leaguing  Hellenic  states,  and 
it  is  not  without  probability  that  in  each  case  the  looseness 
of  the  political  organization  was  directly  conducive  to  the  in- 
tense civic  pride  which  undoubtedly  in  each  case  fostered  an 
extraordinary  development  of  the  arts.  For  in  all  the  more  in- 
tellectual tokens  of  culture  —  in  art,  in  mathematics,  in  writing, 
and  in  historical  records  —  the  Mayan  peoples  surpassed  all 
other  native  Americans,  leaving  in  the  ruins  of  their  cities  and 
in  the  profusion  of  their  sculptured  monuments  such  evidences 
of  genius  as  only  the  most  famous  centres  of  Old- World  anti- 
quity can  rival. 

The  territories  of  the  Mayan  stock  are  singularly  compact.1 
They  occupied  —  and  their  descendants  now  occupy  —  the 
Peninsula  of  Yucatan,  the  valley  of  the  Usumacinta,  and  the 
Cordillera  rising  westerly  and  sinking  to  the  Pacific.  The  Rio 


YUCATAN  125 

Motagua,  emptying  into  the  Gulf  of  Honduras,  and  the  Rio 
Grijalva,  debouching  into  the  Bay  of  Campeche,  form  re- 
spectively their  south-eastern  and  western  borders  excepting 
for  the  fact  that  on  the  eastern  coasts  of  Mexico,  facing  the 
Gulf  of  Campeche,  the  Huastec  (and  perhaps  their  Totonac 
neighbours)  represent  a  Mayan  kindred.  Between  this  western 
branch  and  the  great  Mayan  centre  of  Yucatan  the  coast  was 
occupied  by  intrusive  Nahuatlan  tribes,  landward  from  whom 
lay  the  territories  of  the  Zoquean  and  Zapotecan  stocks,  the 
western  neighbours  of  the  Mayan  peoples. 

The  culture  of  the  Maya  is  distinctly  related,  either  as  parent 
or  as  branch,  to  the  civilizations  of  Mexico.2    Affinities  of 
Haustec  and  Maya  works  of  art  indicate  that  the  ancestors 
of  the  two  branches  were  not  separated  previous  to  a  consider- 
able progress   in  civilization;  while,   in  a  broader  way,   the 
cultures  of  the  Nahuatlan,   Zapotecan,  and  Mayan  peoples 
have  common  elements  of  art,  ritual,  myth,  and,  above  all, 
of  mathematical  and  calendric  systems  which  mark  them  as 
sprung  from  a  common  source.  The  Zapotec,  situated  between 
the  Nahuatlan  and  Mayan  centres,  show  an  intermediate  art 
and  science,  whose  elements  clearly  unite  the  two  extremes; 
while  the  appearance  of  place-names,  such  as  Nonoual  and 
Tulan,  or  Tollan,  in  both  Maya  and  Nahua  tradition  imply  at 
least  a  remote  geographical  community.  The  Nahuatlan  tribes, 
if  we  may  believe    their  own   account,  were  comparatively 
recent  comers  into  the  realm  of  a  civilization  long  anteceding 
them,  and  one  which  they,  as  barbarians,  adopted;  the  Maya 
(at  least,  mythically)   remembered  the  day  of  their  coming 
into  Yucatan.  On  the  basis  of  these  two  facts  and  the  un- 
doubted community  of  culture  of  the  two  races,  it  has  been  not 
implausibly  reasoned  that  the  Toltec  of  Nahua  tradition  were 
in  fact  the  ancestors  of  the  Maya,  who,   abandoning  their 
original  home  in  Mexico,  made  their  way  to  the  peninsula, 
there  to  perfect  their  civilization;  and  the  common  association 
of  Quetzalcoatl  ("Kukulcan"  in  Maya)  with  the  migration- 


126  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

legends  adds  strength  to  this  theory.  Nevertheless,  tradition 
points  to  the  high  antiquity  of  the  southern  rather  than  of  the 
Mexican  centres  of  civilization;  and  as  the  facts  seem  to  be 
well  explained  by  the  assumption  of  a  northern  extension  of 
Mayan  culture  in  the  Toltec  or  pre-Toltec  age,  followed  by  its 
recession  in  the  period  of  its  decline  in 'the  south,  this  may  be 
taken  as  the  more  acceptable  theory  in  the  light  of  present 
knowledge.  According  to  this  view,  the  Nahua  should  be  re- 
garded as  the  late  inheritors  of  an  older  civilization  which  they 
had  gradually  pushed  back  upon  its  place  of  origin  and  which, 
indeed,  they  were  threatening  still  further  at  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  for  even  then  Nahuatlan  tribes  had  forced  them- 
selves among  and  beyond  the  declining  Maya. 

When  the  Spaniards  reached  Yucatan,  its  civilization  was 
already  decadent.  The  greater  cities  had  been  abandoned  and 
were  falling  into  decay,  while  the  country  was  anarchical  with 
local  enmities.  The  past  greatness  of  Mayapan  and  Chichen 
Itza  was  remembered;  but  rather,  as  Bishop  Landa's  account 
shows,3  for  the  intensification  of  the  jealousies  of  those  who 
boasted  great  descent  than  as  models  for  emulation.  Three 
brothers  from  the  east  —  so  runs  the  Bishop's  narrative  —  had 
founded  Chichen  Itza,  living  honourably  until  one  of  them  died, 
when  dissensions  arose,  and  the  two  surviving  brothers  were 
assassinated.  Either  before  this  event,  or  immediately  after- 
ward, there  arrived  from  the  west  a  great  prince  named  Cucul- 
can  who,  "after  his  departure,  was  regarded  in  Mexico  as  a  god 
and  was  called  Cezalcouati;  and  he  was  venerated  as  a  divinity 
in  Yucatan  also  because  of  his  zeal  for  the  public  good."  He 
quieted  the  dissensions  of  the  people  and  founded  the  city  of 
Mayapan,  where  he  built  a  round  temple,  with  four  entrances 
opening  to  the  four  quarters,  "entirely  different  from  all  those 
that  are  in  Yucatan";  and  after  ruling  in  Mayapan  for  seven 
years  he  returned  to  Mexico,  leaving  peace  and  amity  behind 
him.  The  family  of  the  Cocomes  succeeded  to  the  rule,  and 
shortly  afterward  came  Tutul-Xiu  and  his  followers,  who  had 


PLATE  XVIII 

Temple  3,  ruins  of  Tikal.     After  Memoirs  of  the 
Peabody  Museum,  Vol.  V,  Plate  II. 


YUCATAN  127 

been  wandering  in  the  interior  for  forty  years.  These  formed  an 
alliance  with  Mayapan;  but  eventually  the  Cocomes,  by  intro- 
ducing Mexican  mercenaries  (who  brought  the  bow,  previously 
unknown  there)  were  able  to  tyrannize  over  the  people.  Under 
the  leadership  of  the  Xius,  rising  in  revolt,  the  Cocomes  were 
overthrown,  only  one  son  out  of  the  royal  house  escaping;  and 
Mayapan,  after  five  centuries  of  power,  was  abandoned.  The 
single  Cocom  who  escaped  gathered  his  followers  and  founded 
Tibulon  calling  his  province  Zututa,  while  the  Mexican  mer- 
cenaries settled  at  Canul.  Achchel,  a  noble  who  had  married  the 
daughter  of  the  Ahkin-Mai,  chief  priest  of  Mayapan  and  keeper 
of  the  mysteries,  founded  the  kingdom  of  the  Cheles  on  the 
coast;  and  the  Xius  held  the  inlands.  "Between  these  three 
great  princely  houses  of  the  Cocomes,  Xivis,  and  Cheles  there 
were  constant  struggles  and  cruel  hatreds,  and  these  endure 
even  now  that  they  have  become  Christians.  The  Cocomes  say 
to  the  Xivis  that  they  assassinated  their  sovereign  and  stole 
his  domains;  the  Xivis  reply  that  they  are  neither  less  noble 
nor  less  ancient  and  royal  than  the  others,  and  that  far  from 
being  traitors,  they  were  the  liberators  of  the  country  in  slaying 
a  tyrant.  The  Cheles,  in  turn,  claim  to  be  as  noble  as  any, 
since  they  are  descended  from  the  most  venerated  priest  of 
Mayapan.  On  another  side,  they  mutually  reviled  each  other 
in  the  matter  of  food,  since  the  Cheles,  dwelling  on  the  coast, 
would  not  give  fish  or  salt  to  the  Cocomes,  obliging  them  to 
send  far  for  these,  while  the  Cocomes  would  not  permit  the 
Cheles  the  game  and  fruits  of  their  territory." 

Such  is  the  picture  which  Bishop  Landa  gives  of  the  con- 
ditions in  the  north  of  the  peninsula  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest, 
about  a  century  after  the  fall  of  Mayapan;  and  native  records 
and  archaeology  alike  sustain  its  general  truth.4  At  Chichen 
Itza  the  so-called  Ball  Court  is  regarded  as  Mexican  in  in- 
spiration, while  in  the  same  city  exist  the  ruins  of  a  round 
temple  similar  to  those  which  tradition  ascribes  to  Kukulcan, 
different  in  character  from  the  normal  Mayan  types.  Reliefs 


128  LATIN-AMERICAN   MYTHOLOGY 

representing  warriors  in  Mexican  garb  also  point  to  Nahuatlan 
incursions,  which  may  in  fact  have  been  the  occasion  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Mayan  league  of  the  cities  of  the  north  — 
Chichen  Itza,  Uxmal,  and  Mayapan  —  in  the  Books  of  Chilam 
Balam  represented  as  powerful  in  the  day  of  the  great  among 
the  Maya  of  Yucatan. 

These  "Books"  are  historical  chronicles  written  after  the 
Conquest  by  members  of  native  families  —  chiefly  the  Tutul- 
Xiu — and  from  them,  as  key  events  of  Yucatec  history,  a  few 
events  stand  forth  so  conspicuously  that  possible  dates  can  be 
assigned  to  them.  "This  is  the  arrangement  of  the  katuns 
[periods  of  720x3  days]  since  the  departure  was  made  from  the 
land,  from  the  house  of  Nonoual,  where  were  the  four  Tutul- 
Xiu,  from  Zuiva  in  the  west;  they  came  from  the  land  of  Tula- 
pan,  having  formed  a  league."5  So  begins  one  of  the  chronicles, 
indicating  a  remote  migration  of  the  Xiu  family  from  the  west — 
an  event  which  Spinden  and  Joyce  place  near  160  A.  D.6  The 
next  event  recorded  is  a  stay,  eighty  years  later,  at  Chacno- 
uiton  (or  Chacnabiton),  where  a  sojourn  of  ninety-nine  years 
is  recorded;  and  thence  the  migration  was  renewed,  Bakhalal, 
near  the  Gulf  of  Honduras,  being  occupied  for  some  sixty  years. 
Here  it  was  that  the  wanderers  "learned  of,"  or  discovered, 
Chichen  Itza,  and  hither  the  people  removed  about  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century,  only  to  abandon  it  after  a  century  or  more 
in  order  to  occupy  Chacanputun,  on  the  Bay  of  Campeche. 
Two  hundred  and  sixty  years  later  this  seat  was  lost,  and  the 
Itza  returned,  about  the  year  970  A.  D.,  to  Chichen  Itza,  while 
a  member  of  the  Tutul-Xiu  founded  Uxmal,  these  two  cities 
joining  with  Mayapan  to  form  the  triple  league  which,  for 
more  than  two  centuries,  was  to  bring  peace  and  prosperity 
and  the  climax  of  its  civilization  to  northern  Yucatan.  This 
happy  condition  was  ended  by  "the  treachery  of  Hunac  Ceel," 
who  introduced  foreign  warriors  (Mexicans,  as  their  names 
indicate)  into  Chichen  Itza,  overthrew  its  ruler,  Chac  Xib  Chac, 
and  caused  a  state  of  anarchy.  For  a  brief  period  power  cen- 


YUCATAN  129 

tred  in  Mayapan,  which  ruled  with  something  like  order,  until 
"by  the  revolt  of  the  Itza"  it  also  lost  its  position  and  was 
finally  depopulated  in  1442,  this  disaster  being  closely  followed 
by  plagues,  wars,  and  a  terrific  storm,  accompanied  by  in- 
undation, all  of  which  carried  the  destruction  forward. 

This  reconstruction  of  northern  Yucatec  history,  however, 
gives  no  clue  to  the  origin  or  life  of  the  cities  of  the  south  — 
Palenque,  Piedras  Negras,  and  Yaxchilan  in  the  lower  central 
valley  of  the  Usumacintla;  Seibal  on  its  upper  reaches,  not  far 
from  Lake  Peten,  near  which  are  the  ruins  of  Tikal  and  Naranjo; 
while,  south-east  of  these,  Copan,  on  the  river  of  the  same 
name,  and  Quirigua  mark  the  boundaries  of  Mayan  power 
toward  Central  America.  These  cities  had  been  long  in  ruins 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest;  their  builders  were  forgotten, 
and  their  sites  were  hardly  known;  nor  do  the  sparse  traditions 
which  have  survived  in  the  south  —  the  Cakchiquel  Annals 
and  the  Popul  Vuh  —  throw  light  upon  them.  Were  it  not  for 
the  ingenuity  of  scholars,  who  have  deciphered  the  numeral  and 
dating  system  of  their  many  monuments,  their  period  would 
have  remained  but  vague  surmise;  nor  would  this  have  sufficed 
without  the  aid  of  the  Tutul-Xiu  chronicles  to  bring  the  read- 
ings within  the  range  of  our  own  chronological  system.  The 
problem  is  by  no  means  a  simple  one,  even  when  the  dates  on 
the  monuments  have  been  read;  for  the  southern  centres  em- 
ployed a  system  —  the  "long  count,"  as  it  is  called  —  of 
which  only  a  single  monumental  specimen,  a  lintel  at  Chichen 
Itza,  has  been  discovered  in  the  north.  Nevertheless,  with  the 
aid  of  this  inscription,  and  with  the  probable  identification 
of  its  date  in  the  light  of  the  Books  of  Chilam  Balam,  scholars 
have  arrived  at  something  like  consensus  as  to  the  period  of 
the  southern  floruit  of  Mayan  culture.  This  falls  within  the 
ninth  Maya  cycle  (160  A.  D.  to  554  A.  D.,  on  Spinden's  reckon- 
ing), for  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  practically  all  the  monu- 
ments of  the  south  are  of  this  cycle;  and  as  the  archaeological 
evidence  indicates  an  occupancy  of  nearly  two  centuries  for 


130  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

several  of  the  cities,  it  is  clear  that  the  southern  civilization, 
like  the  northern  of  a  later  day,  was  marked  by  the  contem- 
poraneous rise  of  several  great  centres.  Morley  7  suggests  that 
the  south  may  even  have  been  held  by  a  league  of  three  cities, 
as  was  later  the  case  in  the  north,  Palenque  dominating  the 
west,  Tikal  the  centre  and  north,  and  Copan  the  south  and 
east.  Two  archaic  inscriptions  —  on  the  Tuxtla  Statuette  and 
the  Leiden  Plate,  as  the  relics  are  called  —  bear  dates  of  the 
eighth  cycle,  the  earlier  falling  a  century  or  more  before  the 
beginning  of  our  era;  and  these,  no  doubt,  imply  a  nascent 
civilization  which  was  to  reach  the  height  of  its  power  in  the 
fifth  century,  when  the  cities  of  the  south  produced  those 
masterpieces  of  sculpture  which  mark  the  climax  of  an  Ameri- 
can aboriginal  art,  which  was  to  disappear,  a  century  later, 
leaving  scarcely  a  memory  in  the  land  of  its  origin. 

As  restored  by  Morley,8  the  history  of  Mayan  civilization 
falls  into  two  periods  of  imperial  development,  each  subdivided 
into  several  epochs.  The  older,  or  parent  empire  is  that  of 
the  south;  the  later,  formed  by  colonization  begun  while  the 
old  civilization  was  still  flourishing,  is  that  of  the  peninsula. 
Morley's  scheme  is  as  follows: 

OLD  EMPIRE 

I.     Archaic  Period     ....     Earliest  times    .    .     c.    360  A.  D. 
II.     Middle  Period c.    360  A.  D.  .    .    .     c.    460  A.  D. 

III.  Great  Period c.    460  A.  D.  .    .    .     c.    600  A.  D. 

NEW  EMPIRE 

IV.  Colonization  Period     .    .     c.    420  A.  D.     .    .     c.    620  A.  D. 
V.     Transitional  Period      .    .     c.    620  A.  D.      .    .     c.    980  A.  D. 

VI.     Renaissance  Period  .    .    .     c.    980  A.  D.      .    .     c.  1 190  A.  D. 

VII.    Toltec  Period c.  ngoA.o.      .    .     c.  1450  A.  D. 

VIII.     Final  Period      c.  1450  A.  D.      .    .     c.  1537  A.  D. 

Each  of  the  earlier  periods  is  marked  by  the  appearance  of  new 
sites  and  the  foundation  of  new  cities  as  well  as  by  advance 


PLATE   XIX 

Map  of  Yucatan,  showing  sites  of  ancient  cities. 
After  Morley,  BBE  57,  Plate  I. 


NARANJO 

% 

BAL, 
1  •QU  EN  SANTO 

/GUATEMALA^ 

\  QUIRIGUA*^'' 


/COPAN     <->, 

l~v^    * 


YUCATAN  131 

in  the  arts;  and  as  a  whole  the  Old  Empire  is  marked  by  the 
high  development  of  its  sculpture  and  the  use  of  the  more 
complete  mode  of  reckoning,  while  in  the  cities  of  the  New 
Empire  architecture  attains  to  its  highest  development. 

Such  are  the  more  plausible  theories  of  Mayan  culture  his- 
tory, although  there  are  others  (those  of  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg,  for  example)  which  would  place  the  age  of  Mayan 
greatness  earlier  by  many  centuries. 

II.    VOTAN,  ZAMNA,  AND  KUKULCAN 

From  their  remote  beginnings,  as  with  other  peoples  whose 
traditions  lead  back  to  an  age  of  migrations,  the  Mayan  tribes 
remembered  culture  heroes,  tutors  in  the  arts  as  well  as  founders 
of  empire,  priests  as  well  as  kings,  who  may  have  been  historic,9 
but  who  in  origin  were  probably  gods  rather  than  men  —  gods 
whom  time  had  confused  with  the  persons  of  their  priestly  or 
royal  worshippers,  and  in  whose  deeds  cosmic  and  historic 
events  were  distortedly  intermingled.  Tales  of  three  such  heroes 
hold  a  central  place  in  Mayan  mythology:  Votan,  the  hero  of 
Tzental  legend,  whose  name  is  associated  with  Palenque  and 
the  tradition  of  a  great  "Votanic  Empire"  of  times  long  past; 
Zamna,  or  Itzamna,  a  Yucatec  hero;  and  Kukulcan,  known  to 
the  Quiche  as  Gucumatz,  who  is  the  Mayan  equivalent  of 
Quetzalcoatl.  All  three  of  these  hero-deities  are  reputed  to 
have  come  from  afar  —  strange  in  costume  and  in  custom,  - 
to  have  been  the  inventors  or  teachers  of  writing,  and  to  have 
founded  new  cults. 

The  Tzental  legend  of  Votan,10  describing  him  as  having  ap- 
peared from  across  the  sea,  declares  that  when  he  reached  La- 
guna  deTerminos  he  named  the  country  "the  Land  of  Birds  and 
Game"  because  of  the  abundant  life  of  the  region;  and  thence 
the  Votanides  ascended  the  Usumacinta  valley,  ultimately 
founding  their  capital  at  Palenque,  whose  older  and  perhaps 
original  name  was  Nachan,  or  "House  of  Snakes."  Shortly 


132  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

afterward,  no  less  astonishing  to  the  Votanides  than  had  been 
their  own  apparition  to  the  rude  aboriginal,  came  other  boat- 
loads of  long-robed  strangers,  the  first  Nahuatlans;  but  these 
were  peaceably  amalgamated  into  the  new  empire.  Votan  ruled 
many  years,  and,  among  other  works,  composed  a  narrative  of 
the  origin  of  the  Indian  nations,  of  which  Ordonez  y  Aguiar 
gives  a  summary.  The  chief  argument  of  the  work,  he  says, 
aims  to  show  that  Votan  was  descended  from  Imos  (one  of  the 
genii,  or  guardians,  of  the  days),  that  he  was  of  the  race  of 
Chan,  the  Serpent,  and  that  he  took  his  origin  from  Chivim. 
Being  the  first  man  whom  God  had  sent  to  this  region,  which 
we  call  America,  to  people  and  divide  the  lands,  he  made 
known  the  route  which  he  had  followed,  and  after  he  had  es- 
tablished his  seat,  he  made  divers  journeys  to  Valum-Chivim. 
These  were  four  in  number:  in  the  first  he  related  that  having 
departed  from  Valum-Votan,  he  set  out  toward  the  House  of 
Thirteen  Serpents  and  then  went  to  Valum-Chivim,  whence  he 
passed  by  the  city  where  he  beheld  the  House  of  God  being 
built.  He  next  visited  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  edifice  which 
men  had  erected  at  the  command  of  their  common  ancestor  in 
order  to  climb  to  the  sky;  and  he  declared  that  those  with  whom 
he  there  conversed  assured  him  that  that  was  the  place  where 
God  had  given  to  each  tribe  its  own  particular  tongue.  He 
affirmed  that  on  his  return  from  the  House  of  God  he  went  forth 
a  second  time  to  examine  all  the  subterranean  regions  which  he 
had  passed,  and  the  signs  to  be  found  there,  adding  that  he  was 
made  to  traverse  a  subterranean  road  which,  leading  beneath 
the  Earth  and  terminating  at  the  roots  of  the  Sky,  was  none 
other  than  the  hole  of  a  snake;  and  this  he  entered  because  he 
was  "the  Son  of  the  Serpent." 

Ordonez  would  like  to  see  in  this  legend  (which  he  has  obvi- 
ously accommodated  to  his  desire)  a  record  of  historical  wander- 
ings in  and  from  Old  World  lands  and  out  of  Biblical  times. 
Yet  the  narrative,  even  in  its  garbled  form,  is  clearly  a  cos- 
mologic  myth  —  at  the  least  a  tale  of  the  sun's  journey,  and 


YUCATAN  133 

probably  this  tale  set  in  the  general  context  of  Ages  of  the 
World  (the  four  journeys  of  Votan?)  analogous  to  those  of 
Nahuatlan  myth  and  of  the  Popul  Fuh.  When  it  is  added  that 
Votan  was  known  by  the  epithet  "Heart  of  the  People,"  that 
his  successor  was  called  Canam-Lum  ("Serpent  of  the  Earth"), 
and  that  both  of  these  were  venerated  as  gods  at  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  no  word  need  be  added  to  emphasize  the  naturalistic 
character  of  the  myth ;  although  there  may  be  truth  in  a  legend 
of  Votanides,  or  Votan-worshippers,  as  founders  of  Palenque 
and  possibly  as  institutors  of  Mayan  civilization. 

Zamna  (Itzamna,  Yzamna,  "House  of  the  Dews,"  or  "Lap 
of  the  Dews")  u  was  the  reputed  bringer  of  civilization  into 
the  peninsula  and  the  traditional  founder  of  Mayapan,  which 
he  was  said  to  have  made  a  centre  of  feudal  rule.  Like  Votan 
he  was  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  to  name  the  localities 
of  the  land,  to  have  invented  writing,  and  to  have  instructed  the 
barbarous  aborigines  in  the  arts.  "With  the  populations 
which  came  from  the  East,"  Cogolludo  writes,  "was  a  man, 
called  Zamna,  who  was  as  their  priest,  and  who,  they  say,  was 
the  one  who  gave  the  names  by  which  they  now  distinguish,  in 
their  language,  all  the  seaports,  hills,  estuaries,  coasts,  moun- 
tains, and  other  parts  of  the  country,  which  assuredly  is  an 
admirable  thing  if  he  thus  made  a  division  of  every  part  of  the 
land,  of  which  scarcely  an  inch  has  not  its  proper  appellation 
in  their  tongue."  After  having  lived  to  a  great  age,  Zamna  is 
said  to  have  been  buried  at  Izamal,  where  his  tomb-temple 
became  a  centre  for  pilgrimage.  In  fact,  Izamal  is  but  a  modifi- 
cation of  a  name  of  Itzamna,  since  its  older  form  is  Itzmatul, 
which  means,  says  the  Abbe  Brasseur,  "He  who  asks  or  obtains 
the  dew  or  the  frost."  The  ancients  of  Izamal,  Lizana  declares, 
possessed  a  renowned  idol,  Ytzmatul,  which  "had  no  other 
name  .  .  .  although  it  was  said  that  he  was  a  powerful  king 
in  this  region,  to  whom  obedience  was  given  as  to  the  son 
of  the  gods.  When  he  was  asked  how  he  was  named  and 
how  he  should  be  addressed,  he  answered  only,  Ytzen  caan, 


134  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ytzen  muyal,  'I  am  the  dew,  the  substance,  of  the  sky  and 
clouds.'" 

All  this  is  plain  euhemerism,  for  Itzamna  was  a  deity  of  rain 
and  fertility;  Yucatan,  it  is  said,  was  without  moisture  when 
he  came  to  it;  he  rose  from  the  sea;  and  his  temples  and  his 
tomb  were  by  the  seaside.  His  festival,  according  to  Landa, 
fell  in  Mac  (March),  when  he  was  worshipped  in  company 
with  the  gods  of  abundance.  He  caused  the  dead  to  rise  and 
cured  the  sick;  while  in  his  honour  a  temple  was  built  with 
four  doors  leading  to  the  four  extremities  of  the  country,  as  far 
as  Guatemala,  Tabasco,  and  Chiapas,  this  shrine  being  called 
Kab-ul,  or  "  the  Potent  Hand,"  —  a  striking  image  of  the  sky- 
deity  reaching  down  from  heaven,  of  which  there  are  analogues 
in  Egypt  and  Peru.  Both  Landa  and  Lizana  state  that  he  was 
the  son  of  Hunab-Ku  ("the  Holy  One"),  "the  one  living  and 
true  God,  who,  they  said,  is  the  greatest  of  the  gods,  and  who 
cannot  be  figured  or  represented  because  he  is  incorporeal.  .  .  . 
From  him  everything  proceeds,  .  .  .  and  he  has  a  son  whom 
they  name  Hun  Ytzamna."  All  this  indicates  a  deity  of  the 
descending  rains  and  dews,  son  of  Father  Heaven,  and,  through 
his  association  with  the  East,  giver  of  life,  light,  and  knowledge. 
Students  of  the  codices  believe  that  he  is  represented  by  "God 
D "  —  the  aged  divinity  with  the  Roman  nose  and  toothless 
mouth,  associated  (as  is  Tlaloc)  with  the  double-headed  ser- 
pent, which  is  clearly  a  sky-symbol.  Perhaps,  as  Seler  suggests, 
he  is  the  "Grandfather  Above,"  the  Lord  of  life,  analogous  to 
the  Mexican  Tonacatecutli.12 

As  has  been  indicated,  the  worship  of  Kukulcan,13  to  whom 
tradition  ascribed  the  latest  appearance  of  the  three  culture 
heroes,  was  especially  associated  with  Chichen  Itza  and 
Mayapan,  and  perhaps  with  Nahua  immigrations.  His  name, 
like  that  of  the  Quiche  demiurge  Gucumatz,  means  "Plumed 
Serpent"  and  is  a  precise  equivalent  of  "Quetzalcoatl"  —  the 
first  element  referring  directly  to  the  long  and  iridescent  plumes 
of  the  quetzal.  The  frequency  of  bird-serpent  symbols  in  Maya 


YUCATAN  135 

art,  regarded  as  emblematic  of  this  deity,  as  well  as  images, 
both  in  the  codices  and  on  the  monuments,  of  the  long-nosed 
god  himself,  indicate  a  deep-seated  and  fervent  worship,  so 
that  it  may  indeed  be  an  open  question  as  to  whether  Kukulcan 
is  the  pattern  or  the  copy  of  Quetzalcoatl,  with  the  probabilities 
favoring  the  Maya  source.  Certainly  it  is  significant  that,  as 
Tozzer  tells  us,  his  name  still  survives  among  the  Yucatec 
Maya,  while  to  the  Lacandones  he  is  a  many-headed  snake 
which  dwells  with  the  great  father,  Nohochakyum:  "this  snake 
is  killed  and  eaten  only  at  the  time  of  great  national  peril,  as 
during  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  and  especially  that  of  the  sun." 
The  importance  of  Kukulcan  in  the  peninsula  is  indicated  by 
Landa's  description  of  his  festival,  which  occurred  on  the 
sixteenth  day  of  Xul  (October  24).  Upon  Kukulcan's  depart- 
ure, says  Landa  (who  clearly  regarded  the  god  as  an  historical 
personage),  there  were  some  Indians  who  believed  that  he  had 
ascended  into  heaven,  and  regarding  him  as  a  god,  they  built 
temples  in  his  honour.  After  the  destruction  of  Mayapan, 
however,  his  feasts  were  kept  only  in  the  province  of  Mani, 
"but  the  other  districts,  turn  by  turn,  in  recognition  of  what 
was  due  to  Kukulcan,  presented  each  year  at  Mani  sometimes 
four,  sometimes  five,  magnificent  feather  banners  with  which 
they  celebrated  the  fete."  This  festival  was  observed  in  the 
following  manner:  After  fasts  and  abstinences,  the  lords  and 
priests  of  Mani  assembled  before  the  multitude;  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  festal  day,  together  with  a  great  number  of  mum- 
mers, they  issued  from  the  palace  of  the  prince,  proceeding 
slowly  to  the  temple  of  Kukulcan,  which  had  been  properly 
adorned.  When  they  had  reached  it  and  had  prayed,  they 
erected  their  banners,  setting  forth  their  idols  on  a  carpet  of 
leafage;  and  having  lighted  a  new  fire,  they  burned  incense 
in  many  places,  making  oblations  of  meat  cooked  without 
seasoning  and  of  drink  made  from  beans  and  the  seeds  of 
gourds.  The  lords  and  all  who  had  observed  the  fast  remained 
there  five  days  and  five  nights,  praying,  burning  copal,  and 


136  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

performing  sacred  dances,  during  which  period  the  mummers 
went  from  the  house  of  one  noble  to  that  of  another,  performing 
their  acts  and  receiving  the  gifts  offered  them.  At  the  end 
of  five  days  they  carried  their  donations  to  the  temple,  where 
they  shared  all  with  the  lords,  the  singers,  the  priests,  and  the 
dancers;  and  after  this  the  banners  and  idols  (doubtless  house- 
hold gods)  were  taken  again  to  the  palace  of  the  prince,  whence 
each  returned  to  his  own  house.  "They  say  and  hold  for  certain 
that  Kukulcan  descended  from  the  sky  the  last  day  of  the  feast 
and  personally  received  the  sacrifices,  the  penitences,  and  the 
offerings  made  in  his  honour." 

III.   YUCATEC  DEITIES 

For  the  names  of  the  Maya  gods  we  are  mainly  indebted  to 
sparse  notices  in  the  works  of  Landa  and  Lizana,  who,  in  ob- 
literating native  writings,  destroyed  far  more  than  they  pre- 
served. Landa14  gives  a  general  picture  of  the  aboriginal 
religion,  indicating  a  ritual  not  less  elaborate  than  the  Mexican, 
though  with  far  less  human  bloodshed.  "They  had,"  he  says, 
"a  great  number  of  idols  and  of  sumptuous  temples.  Besides 
the  ordinary  shrines,  princes,  priests,  and  chief  men  had  ora- 
tories with  household  idols,  where  they  made  special  prayers 
and  offerings.  They  had  as  much  devotion  for  Cozumel  and 
the  wells  of  the  Chichen  Itza  as  we  for  pilgrimages  to  Rome  and 
Jerusalem;  and  they  went  to  visit  them  and  make  offerings 
as  we  go  to  holy  places.  .  .  .  They  had  such  a  number  of  idols 
that  their  gods  did  not  suffice  them;  for  there  was  not  an  animal 
nor  a  reptile  of  which  they  did  not  make  images,  and  they 
formed  them  also  in  the  likeness  of  their  gods  and  goddesses. 
They  had  some  idols  of  stone,  but  in  small  number,  and  others, 
of  lesser  size,  of  wood,  though  not  so  many  as  of  earthenware. 
The  idols  in  wood  were  esteemed  to  such  a  degree  as  to  be 
counted  for  inheritances,  and  in  them  they  had  the  greatest 
confidence.  They  were  not  at  all  ignorant  that  their  idols  were 


PLATE  XX 
M) 

Tablet  of  the  Foliated  Cross,  Palenque.  This 
cross,  like  that  shown  in  Plate  XX  (B),  rests  upon  a 
monstrous  head,  doubtless  representing  the  Under- 
world, and  is  surmounted  by  the  quetzal,  the  symbol 
of  rain  and  vegetation.  It  is  possible  that  the 
greater  of  the  two  human  figures  represents  a  deity, 
the  lesser  a  priest,  or  that  both  are  divinities  as  in 
the  analogous  figures  of  the  codices  (cf.  Plate  IX, 
upper  figure).  After  drawing  in  Maudsley  [c], 
Vol.  IV. 

(B} 

Tablet  of  the  Cross,  Palenque.  The  cross  was 
encountered  as  an  object  of  worship  on  the  Island 
of  Cozumel  by  the  first-coming  Spaniards.  Cruci- 
form figures  of  several  types  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence as  cosmic  symbols  in  Mexican  and  Mayan 
art.  With  this  plate  and  with  Plate  XX  (A)  should 
be  compared  Plates  VI  and  IX.  After  drawing  in 
Maudsley  [c],  Vol.  IV. 


Tablet  of  the  Sun,  Palenque.  The  two  cary- 
atid-like figures  beneath  the  solar  symbol  doubtless 
represent  the  upbearers  of  the  heavens  (cf.  Plate 
IX,  lower  figure).  After  drawing  in  Maudsley  [c], 
Vol.  IV. 


• 


•&'?. 


YUCATAN  137 

only  the  work  of  their  own  hands,  dead  things  and  without 
divinity,  but  they  venerated  them  for  the  sake  of  what  they 
represented  and  because  of  the  rites  with  which  they  had 
consecrated  them." 

Among  the  deities  mentioned  by  Landa  are  the  Chacs,  or 
"gods  of  abundance,"  whose  feasts  were  held  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  in  connexion  with  the  four  Bacab,  or  deities  of  the 
Quarters;  and  again  in  association  with  Itzamna  at  the  great 
March  festival  designed  to  obtain  water  for  the  crops,  when  the 
hearts  of  every  kind  of  wild  animal  and  reptile  were  offered  in 
sacrifice.  The  Chacs  were  evidently  rain-gods,  like  the  Mexi- 
can Tlaloque,  with  a  ruler,  Chac,  corresponding  to  Tlaloc.  The 
name  was  likewise  applied  to  four  old  men  annually  chosen  to 
assist  the  priests  in  the  festivals,  and  from  Landa's  descrip- 
tions of  the  parts  played  by  them  it  is  clear  that  they  repre- 
sented the  genii  of  the  Quarters. 

Other  divinities  who  are  named  include  Ekchuah  (also  men- 
tioned by  Cogolludo  and  Las  Casas),  to  whom  travellers  prayed 
and  burned  copal:  "At  night,  wherever  they  rested,  they 
erected  three  small  stones,  depositing  upon  each  of  these  some 
grains  of  their  incense,  while  before  them  they  placed  three 
other  flat  stones  on  which  they  put  more  incense,  entreating 
the  god  which  they  name  Ekchuah  that  he  would  deign  to 
bring  them  safely  home."  There  were,  again,  medicine-gods, 
Cit-Bolon-Tum  and  Ahau-Chamahez,  names  which  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg15  interprets  as  meaning  respectively  "Boar-with- 
the-Nine-Tusks"  and  "  Lord-of-the-Magic-Tooth."  There 
were  gods  of  the  chase;  gods  of  fisher  folk;  gods  of  maize,  as 
Yum  Kaax  ("Lord  of  Harvests"),  of  cocoa;  and  no  doubt  of 
all  other  food  plants.  Of  the  annual  feasts,  the  most  signifi- 
cant appear  to  have  been  the  New  Year's  consecration  of  the 
idols  in  the  month  Pop  (July) ;  the  great  medicine  festival,  with 
devotion  to  hunters'  and  fishermen's  gods,  in  Zip  (September) ; 
the  festival  of  Kukulcan  in  Xul  (October);  the  fabrication  of 
new  idols  in  Mol  (December);  the  Ocna,  or  renovation  of  the 


138  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

temple  in  honour  of  the  gods  of  the  fields,  in  Yax  (January) ; 
the  interesting  expiation  for  bloodshed  —  "for  they  regarded 
as  abominable  all  shedding  of  blood  apart  from  sacrifice"  —  in 
Zac  (February);  the  rain-prayer  to  Itzamna  and  the  Chacs, 
in  March  (mentioned  above);  and  the  Pax  (May)  festival  in 
which  the  Nacon,  or  war-chief,  was  honoured,  and  at  which 
the  Holkan-Okot,  or  "Dance  of  the  Warriors,"  was  probably 
the  notable  feature.  The  war-god  is  represented  in  the  codices 
with  a  black  line  upon  his  face,  supposed  to  represent  war- 
paint, and  is  often  shown  as  presiding  over  the  body  of  a  sacri- 
ficial victim;  while  with  him  is  associated  not  only  the  death- 
god,  Ahpuch,  but  another  grim  deity,  the  "Black  Captain," 
Ek  Ahau. 

Celestial  divinities  were  probably  numerous  in  the  Maya 
pantheon,  as  was  almost  inevitable  in  view  of  the  extraordi- 
nary development  of  astronomical  observation.  Xaman  Ek 
was  the  North  Star,  while  Venus  was  Noh  Ek,  the  Great  Star. 
The  Sun,  according  to  Lizana,16  was  worshipped  at  Izamal  as 
Kinich-Kakmo,  the  " Fiery-Visaged  Sun";  and  the  macaw  was 
his  symbol,  for,  they  said,  "the  Sun  descends  at  midday  to 
consume  the  sacrifice  as  the  macaw  descends  in  plumage  of 
many  colours."  In  view  of  all  the  fire  thus  came  at  noon  upon 
the  altars,  after  which  the  priest  prophesied  what  should  come 
to  pass,  especially  by  way  of  pestilence,  famine,  and  death. 
"The  Yucatec  have  an  excessive  fear  of  death,"  says  Landa, 
"as  may  be  seen  in  all  their  rites  with  which  they  honour  their 
gods,  which  have  no  other  end  than  to  obtain  health  and  life 
and  their  daily  bread";  and  he  continues  with  a  description  of 
the  abode  of  blessed  souls,  a  land  of  food,  drink,  and  sweet 
savours,  where  "there  is  a  tree  which  they  call  Yaxche,  of  an 
admirable  freshness  under  the  shady  branches  of  which  they 
will  enjoy  eternal  pleasure.  .  .  .  The  pains  of  a  wicked-life 
consist  in  a  descent  to  a  place  still  lower  which  they  call  Mit- 
nal,  there  to  be  tormented  by  demons  and  to  suffer  the  tortures 
of  hunger,  cold,  famine,  and  sorrow."  The  lord  of  this  hell  is 


YUCATAN  139 

Hanhau;  and  the  future  life,  good  or  bad,  is  eternal,  for  the 
life  of  souls  has  no  end.  "They  hold  it  as  certain  that  the  souls 
of  those  who  hang  themselves  go  to  paradise,  there  to  be  re- 
ceived by  Ixtab,  goddess  of  the  hanged";  and  many  ended 
their  lives  in  this  manner  for  but  light  reason  such  as  a  disap- 
pointment or  an  illness. 

The  image  of  Ixtab,  with  body  limp  and  head  in  a  loop,  as  if 
hanged,  is  one  of  those  recognized  in  the  codices;  for  in  default 
of  mythic  tales,  few  of  which  are  preserved  concerning  the 
Yucatec  gods,  these  codex  drawings  and  the  monumental 
images  furnish  our  main  clues  to  the  Maya  pantheon.  Follow- 
ing the  suggestion  of  Schellhas,17  it  is  customary  to  designate 
the  codical  deities  (nameless,  or  uncertainly  named)  by  letters. 
Thus,  God  A  is  represented  with  visible  vertebrae  and  skull 
head,  and  is  therefore  identified  as  the  death-god,  named 
Hanhau  in  Landa's  account,  Ahpuch  by  Hernandez,  and  Yum 
Cimil  ("Lord  of  Death")  by  the  Yucatec  of  today.  Death  is 
occasionally  shown  as  an  owl-headed  deity,  and  is  also  asso- 
ciated with  the  moan-bird  (a  kind  of  screech-owl),  with  the  god 
of  war,  and  with  a  being  that  is  dubiously  identified  as  a 
divinity  of  frost  and  of  sin.  God  B,  whose  image  occurs  most 
frequently  of  all  in  the  codices,  and  who  is  represented  with 
protruding  teeth,  a  pendulous  nose,  and  lolling  tongue,  is 
closely  connected  with  the  serpent  and  with  symbols  of  the 
meteorological  elements  and  of  the  cardinal  points;  and  is  re- 
garded as  representing  Kukulcan.  God  C,  the  "god  with  the 
ornamented  face,"  is  a  sky-deity,  tentatively  identified  with 
the  North  Star,  or  perhaps  with  the  constellation  of  the  Little 
Bear.  God  D,  the  old  divinity  with  the  Roman  nose  and  the 
toothless  jaws,  is  regarded  by  Schellhas  as  a  god  of  the  moon 
or  of  the  night,  although  in  him  other  scholars  see  Itzamna,  re- 
garded as  a  sun-deity.  God  E  is  the  maize-god,  probably  Yum 
Kaax,  or  "Lord  of  Harvests";  God  F  is  the  deity  of  war;  and 
with  him  is  sometimes  associated  God  M,  the  "black  god 
with  the  red  lips,"  perhaps  Ekchuah,  the  divinity  of  merchants 


140  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

and  travellers,  for  war  and  commerce  are  connected  in  the  New 
World  as  in  the  Old. 

These  seven  deities  are  those  of  most  frequent  occurrence 
in  the  codices,  though  the  full  list,  which  surely  gives  a  general 
picture  of  the  Maya  pantheon,  includes  also  God  G,  the  sun-god 
God  H,  the  Chicchan-god  (or  serpent-deity) ;  God  I,  a  water- 
goddess;  God  K,  the  "god  with  the  ornamented  nose";  God  L, 
the  "old  black  god,"  perhaps  related  to  M;  God  N,  the  "god 
of  the  end  of  the  year";  God  O,  a  goddess  with  the  face  of  an 
old  woman;  and  God  P,  a  frog-god.  Others  are  animal  deities, 
—  the  dog,  jaguar,  vulture,  tortoise,  and,  in  differing  shapes 
of  representation,  the  panther,  deer,  peccary,  bat,  and  many 
forms  of  birds  and  animals. 

Not  a  few  of  these  ancient  deities  hold  among  the  Maya  of 
today  something  of  their  ancient  dignity:  they  are  slightly 
degraded,  not  utterly  overthrown  by  the  intervention  of 
Catholic  Christianity.  At  least  this  is  the  picture  given  by 
Tozzer  as  result  of  his  researches  among  the  Yucatac  villagers. 
According  to  them,  he  says,18  there  are  seven  heavens  above 
the  earth,  each  pierced  by  a  hole  at  its  center.  A  giant  ceiba, 
growing  in  the  exact  center  of  the  earth,  rears  its  branches 
through  the  holes  of  the  heavens  until  it  reaches  the  seventh, 
where  lives  El  Gran  Dios  of  the  Spaniards;  and  it  is  by  means 
of  this  tree  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead  ascend  from  heaven  to 
heaven.  Below  this  topmost  Christianized  heaven,  dwell  the 
spirits,  under  the  rule  of  El  Gran  Dios,  which  are  none  other  than 
the  ancient  Maya  gods.  In  the  sixth  heaven  are  the  bearded 
old  men,  the  Nukuchyumchakob,  or  Yumchakob,  white-haired 
and  very  fond  of  smoking,  who  are  the  lords  of  rain  and  the 
protectors  of  human  beings  —  apparently  the  Chacs  of  the 
earlier  chroniclers,  though  the  description  of  them  would  seem 
to  imply  that  Kukulcan  is  of  their  number;  perhaps  originally 
he  was  their  lord;  now  they  receive  their  orders  from  El  Gran 
Dios. 

In  the  fifth  heaven  above  dwell  the  protecting  spirits  of  the 


YUCATAN  141 

fields  and  the  forests;. in  the  fourth  the  protectors  of  animals; 
in  the  third  the  spirits  ill-disposed  toward  men;  in  the  second 
the  lords  of  the  four  winds;  while  in  the  first  above  the  earth 
reside  the  Yumbalamob,  for  the  special  protection  of  Christians. 
These  latter  are  invisible  during  the  day,  but  at  night  they  sit 
beside  the  crosses  reared  at  the  entrances  of  the  pueblos,  one 
for  each  of  the  cardinal  points,  protecting  the  villagers  from 
the  dangers  of  the  forest.  With  obsidian  knives  they  cut 
through  the  wind,  and  make  sounds  by  which  they  signal  to 
their  comrades  stationed  at  other  entrances  to  the  town. 
Truly,  this  description  answers  astonishingly  to  the  Aztec 
lord  of  the  crossroads,  Tezcatlipoca. 

Below  the  earth  is  Kisin,  the  earthquake,  the  evil  one,  who 
resents  the  chill  rains  sent  down  by  the  Yumchakob,  and  raises 
a  wind  to  clear  the  sky.  The  spirits  of  suicides  dwell  here  also, 
and  all  souls  excepting  those  of  war-slain  men  and  women  dead 
of  child-birth  (which  go  directly  to  heaven)  are  doomed  for  a 
time  to  this  underworld  realm. 

Other  diminished  deities  are  Ahkinshok,  the  owner  of  the 
days;  the  guardians  of  the  bees;  the  spirit  of  newfire;  Ahkushtal, 
of  birth;  Ahmakiq,  who  locks  up  the  crop-destroying  winds; 
patrons  of  medicine;  and  a  crowd  of  workers  of  ill  to  men, 
among  them  the  Shtabai,  serpentiform  demons  who  issue  from 
their  cavernous  abodes  and  in  female  form  snare  men  to  ruin. 
Paqok,  on  the  other  hand,  wanders  abroad  at  night  and  attacks 
women.  The  Yoyolche  are  also  night-walkers;  their  step  is 
half  a  league,  and  they  shake  the  house  as  they  pass. 

Tozzer  makes  the  interesting  observation  that  in  many  cases, 
where  among  the  Maya  is  found  a  class  of  spirits,  the  purely 
heathen  Lacandones  recognize  a  single  god.  Thus,  to  the 
Nukuchyumchakob  of  the  Maya  corresponds  the  Lacandone 
Nohochakyum,  who  is  the  Great  Father  and  chief  god  of  their 
religion,  having  as  his  servants  the  spirits  of  the  east,  the  con- 
stellations, and  the  thunder.  At  the  end  of  the  world  he  will 
wear  around  his  body  the  serpent  Hapikern,  who  will  draw 


142  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

people  to  him  by  his  breath  and  slay  them.  Nohochakyum  is 
one  of  four  brothers,  apparently  lords  of  the  four  quarters.  As 
is  usual  in  such  groups,  he  of  the  east  is  pre-eminent.  Usukun, 
one  of  the  brothers,  is  a  cave-dweller,  having  the  earthquake  for 
his  servant;  he  is  regarded  with  dread,  and  his  image  is  set 
apart  from  the  other  gods.  There  are  a  number  of  other  gods 
and  goddesses  of  the  Lacandones,  several  of  which  are  clearly 
identifiable  as  the  same  as  the  Maya  deities  described  by  Landa 
and  other  early  writers.  As  a  whole,  the  pantheon  is  a  humane 
one;  it  lacks  that  quality  of  terror  which  makes  hideous  the 
congregation  of  the  Aztec  deities.  Most  of  the  gods,  Maya  and 
Lacandone,  are  kindly-disposed  toward  men,  and  doubtless  it 
was  this  kindliness  reflected  back  which  kept  the  Maya  altars 
relatively  free  of  human  blood. 

IV.  RITES  AND  SYMBOLS 

No  region  in  America  appears  to  have  furnished  so  many  or 
such  striking  analogies  to  Christian  ritual  and  symbolism  as 
did  the  Mayan.  It  was  here,  on  the  island  of  Cozumel,  that 
the  cross  was  an  object  of  veneration  even  at  the  first  coming 
of  the  Spaniard;  and  when  the  rites  of  the  natives  were  studied 
by  the  missionaries,  they  were  found  to  include  many  that 
seemed  to  be  Christian  in  inspiration.  Bishop  Landa  19  de- 
scribes at  length  the  Yucatec  baptism,  which  was  designated 
by  a  name  equivalent,  he  says,  to  renascor — "  for  in  the  Yucatec 
tongue  zihil  means  to  be  reborn"  —  and  which  was  celebrated 
in  a  complex  festival,  godfather  and  all.  The  name  of  the  rite 
was  Em-Ku,  or  "Descent  of  God";  and,  he  adds,  "They  be- 
lieve that  they  receive  therefrom  a  disposition  inclined  to  good 
conduct  and  that  it  guarantees  them  from  all  temptations  of 
the  devil  with  respect  to  temporal  things,  while  by  means  of 
this  rite  and  a  good  life  they  hope  to  secure  salvation."  Sacra- 
ments of  various  sorts,  confession  of  sins,  penitence,  penance, 
and  pilgrimages  to  holy  shrines  were  other  ritual  similarities 


YUCATAN  143 

with  Catholic  Christianity  which  could  not  fail  to  be  impressive 
and  which  actually  furthered  the  change  of  religion  with  a 
minimum  of  friction. 

Along  with  these  analogies  of  ritual  there  were  likenesses  of 
belief:  traditions  of  a  deluge,  a  confusion  of  tongues,  and  a  dis- 
persion of  peoples,  as  well  as  reminiscences  of  legendary  teachers 
of  the  arts  of  life  and  of  the  truths  of  religion  in  which  it  was 
not  difficult  for  the  eye  of  faith  to  discern  the  missionary  labours 
of  Saint  Thomas.  Las  Casas,20  quoting  a  certain  cleric,  Padre 
Francisco  Hernandez,  tells  of  a  Yucatec  trinity:  one  of  their 
old  men,  when  asked  as  to  their  ancient  religion,  said  that  "they 
recognized  and  believed  in  God  who  dwells  in  heaven,  and  that 
this  God  was  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  the 
Father  was  called  Icona,  who  had  created  men  and  all  things, 
that  the  Son  was  named  Bacab,  and  that  he  was  born  of  a 
virgin  called  Chibirias,  who  is  in  heaven  with  God;  the  Holy 
Spirit  they  termed  Echuac."  The  son,  Bacab,  it  is  added,  being 
scourged  and  crowned  with  thorns  by  one  Eopuco,  was  tied 
upon  a  cross  with  extended  arms,  where  he  died;  but  after 
three  days  he  arose  and  ascended  into  heaven  to  be  with  his 
father.  The  name  Echuac  signifies  "merchant";  "and  good 
merchandise  the  Holy  Spirit  bore  to  this  world,  for  He  filled 
the  earth  with  gifts  and  graces  so  divine  and  so  abundant." 

The  honesty  of  this  account  is  no  less  evident  than  its  dis- 
tortion, which  may  have  been  due  as  much  to  the  confused 
reminiscences  of  the  old  Indian  as  to  the  imaginative  expectancy 
of  the  Spanish  recorder.  Bacab  and  Ekchuah  are  mentioned 
by  Landa  and  others,  and  Las  Casas  also  states  that  the  mother 
of  Chibirias  was  named  Hischen  (que  nosotros  decimos  haber 
sido  San?  Ana),  who  must  surely  be  the  goddess  Ixchel,  goddess 
of  fecundity,  invoked  at  child-birth.  The  association  of  the 
Bacabs  (for  there  are  four  of  them)  with  the  cross  and  with 
heaven  is  also  intelligible,  since  the  Bacabs  are  genii  of  the 
Quarters,  where  they  upheld  the  skies  and  guarded  the  waters, 
which  were  symbolized  in  rites  by  water-jars  with  animal  or 


144  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

human  heads.  They  are,  no  doubt,  in  the  Maya  region  as  in 
Mexico,  represented  by  caryatid  and  cruciform  figures,  of 
which,  we  may  suppose,  the  celebrated  Tablet  of  the  Cross 
and  Tablet  of  the  Foliate  Cross  at  Palenque  are  examples. 

The  character  of  the  Bacab  is  best  indicated  by  Landa's  21 
description  of  the  New  Year  festival  celebrated  for  them;  and 
he  calls  them  "four  brothers  whom  God,  when  creating  the 
world,  had  placed  at  its  four  corners  in  order  to  uphold  the 
heaven  .  .  .  though  some  say  that  these  Bacabs  were  among 
those  who  were  saved  when  the  earth  was  destroyed  in  the 
Deluge."  In  all  the  Yucatec  cities  there  were,  Landa  states, 
four  entrances  toward  the  four  points,  each  marked  by  two 
huge  stones  opposite  one  another;  and  each  of  the  four  suc- 
cessive years  designated  by  a  different  New  Year's  sign  was 
introduced  by  rites  performed  at  the  stones  marking  the  en- 
trance appropriate  to  the  year.  Thus  Kan  years  were  devoted 
to  the  south.  The  omen  of  this  year  was  called  Hobnil,  and 
the  festival  began  with  the  fabrication  of  a  statue  of  Kan-u- 
Uayeyab  which  was  placed  with  the  stones  of  the  south,  while 
a  second  idol,  called  Bolon-Zacab,  was  erected  at  the  principal 
entrance  of  the  chief's  house.  When  the  populace  had  assembled 
they  proceeded,  along  a  path  well-swept  and  adorned  with 
greenery,  to  the  gate  of  the  south,  where  priests  and  nobles, 
burning  incense  mingled  with  maize,  sacrificed  a  fowl.  This 
done,  they  placed  the  statue  upon  a  litter  of  yellow  wood, 
"and  upon  its  shoulders  an  angel  —  horribly  fashioned  and 
painted  —  as  a  sign  of  an  abundance  of  water  and  of  a  good 
year  to  come."  Dancing,  they  conveyed  the  litter  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  statue  of  Bolon-Zacab  at  the  chiefs  house,  where 
further  offerings  were  made  and  a  banquet  was  shared  by  such 
strangers  as  might  be  within  the  gates.  "Others  drawing 
blood  and  scarifying  their  ears,  anointed  a  stone  which  was 
there,  an  idol  named  Kanal-Acantun ;  and  they  moulded  also 
a  heart  of  bread-dough  and  another  of  gourd-seeds  which  they 
presented  to  the  idol  Kan-u-Uayeyab.  Thus  they  guarded  this 


PLATE  XXI 

Stone  Lintel  from  Menche,  Chiapas,  representing 
a  Maya  priest  asperging  a  penitent  who  is  drawing 
a  barbed  cord  through  his  tongue.  After  photo- 
graph in  the  Peabody  Museum. 


YUCATAN 

statue  and  the  other  during  the  unlucky  days,  smoking  them 
with  incense  and  with  incense  mingled  with  ground  maize  for 
they  believed  that  if  they  neglected  these  rites,  they  would  be 
subject  to  the  ills  pertaining  to  this  year.  When  the  unlucky 
days  were  past,  they  carried  the  image  of  Bolon-Zacab  to  the 
temple,  and  the  idol  of  the  other  to  the  eastern  gate  of  the 
town,  that  there  they  might  begin  the  New  Year;  and  leaving 
it  in  this  place,  they  returned  home,  each  occupying  himself 
with  the  duties  of  the  New  Year."  This  was  regarded  as  a  year 
of  good  augury;  and  similar  rites  were  performed  in  connexion 
with  each  of  the  other  year-signs.  Under  Muluc  the  omen  was 
called  Canzienal  and  was  also  regarded  as  good.  It  was  the 
year  of  the  east,  and  the  gate  was  marked  by  an  idol  named 
Chac-u-Uayeyab,  while  the  deity  presiding  at  the  chief's  house 
was  termed  Kinich-Ahau,  the  meaning  of  which  must  be  "  Lord 
of  the  Solar  Eye"  if  Brasseur's  interpretation  be  correct.  War- 
dances  were  a  feature  of  the  celebration,  doubtless  to  Sol  In- 
victus;  and  offerings  made  in  the  form  of  yolks  of  eggs  further 
suggest  solar  symbolism ;  while  it  was  believed  that  eye-disease 
or  injury  would  be  the  lot  of  anyone  who  neglected  the  rites. 
Ix  years  were  devoted  to  the  north,  with  an  omen  called 
Zac-Ciui  and  regarded  as  evil.  The  god  of  the  quarter  was 
named  Zac-u-Uayeyab,  and  he  of  the  centre  Yzamna,  to  whom 
were  offered  turkeys'  heads,  quails'  feet,  etc.  Cotton  was  the 
sole  crop  in  which  abundance  was  to  be  expected,  while  ills  of 
all  sorts  threatened.  Darker  still  were  the  prognostics  of 
Hozanek,  the  omen  of  Cauac  years,  sacred  to  the  west.  An 
image  of  Ek-u-Mayeyab  was  carried  to  the  portals  of  the  west, 
while  Uac-Mitun-Ahau  presided  in  the  central  place;  and  on  a 
green  and  black  litter  the  god  of  the  gate  was  carried  to  the 
centre,  having  on  his  shoulders  a  calabash  and  a  dead  man, 
with  an  ash-coloured  bird  of  prey  above.  "This  they  conveyed 
in  a  manner  showing  devotion  mingled  with  distress,  per- 
forming dances  which  they  called  Xibalba-Okot,  which  signi- 
fies 'dance  of  the  demon.'"  Pests  of  ants  and  devouring  birds 


146  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

were  among  the  plagues  expected;  and  among  the  rites  by 
which  they  sought  to  exorcise  these  evils  was  a  night  of  bon- 
fires, through  the  hot  coals  of  which  they  raced  with  bare  feet, 
hoping  thus  to  expiate  the  threatened  ills,  all  ending  in  an 
intoxication  "demanded  both  by  custom  and  by  the  heat  of 
the  fire." 

V.  THE  MAYA  CYCLES22 

It  is  probable  that  the  Mexican  calendar  is  remotely  of 
Mayan  origin,  especially  as  the  fundamental  features  of  the 
calendric  system  are  the  same  in  the  two  regions;  viz.,  first, 
the  combination  of  the  Tonalamatl  of  two  hundred  and  sixty 
days  with  the  year  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  in  a 
"round"  or  "bundle,"  of  fifty-two  such  years;  and  second,  the 
co-ordination  of  cyclic  returns  of  calendric  symbols  with  the 
synodic  periods  of  the  planets,  serving,  along  with  purely 
numerical  counts,  to  distinguish  and  characterize  the  major 
cycles.  It  is  in  this  second  feature  that  the  Maya  calendar 
is  vastly  superior  to  the  Mexican;  forming,  indeed,  by  far  the 
most  impressive  achievement  of  aboriginal  America  in  the  way 
of  scientific  conception. 

The  Mayan  name  for  the  period  known  to  the  Aztec  as 
Xiuhmolpilli,  or  "Bundle  of  the  Years,"  is  unknown;  it  is  cus- 
tomarily designated  as  the  Calendar  Round.  In  construction  it 
is  essentially  the  same  as  the  Mexican :  the  day,  kin  (literally, 
"sun"),  is  combined  in  the  twenty-day  period,  or  uinal  (prob- 
ably related  to  uinic,  "man,"  referring  to  the  foundation  of 
the  vigesimal  system  in  the  full  count  of  fingers  and  toes) ;  and 
thirteen  of  these  periods  are  united  in  the  Tonalamatl  (the  Maya 
name  is  unknown),  which  Goodman  designates  the  "Burner 
Period,"  believing  it  to  be  ceremonially  related  to  incense 
burning.  As  the  combination  of  thirteen  numerals  with  the 
twenty  day-signs  causes  the  completion  of  their  possible  com- 
binations in  this  period,  the  series,  as  with  the  Mexicans,  begins 
anew  at  the  end  of  the  Tonalamatl;  and  is  so  continued,  repeat- 


YUCATAN  147 

ing  indefinitely.  The  names  of  the  Maya  days,  corresponding 
to  the  twenty  signs,  are:  Imix,  Ik,  Akbal,  Kan,  Chicchan,  Cimi, 
Manik,  Lamat,  Muluc,  Oc,  Chuen,  Eb,  Ben,  Ix,  Men,  Cib, 
Caban,  Eznab,  Cauac,  and  Ahau.  Each  of  these  day-signs 
(and  probably  each  of  the  thirteen  numbers  accompanying 
them)  had  its  divinatory  significance;  and  it  is  quite  certain, 
from  Landa's  references  alone,  that  divination  formed  a  promi- 
nent use  of  calendric  codices. 

The  year,  or  haab,  of  the  Maya,  again  like  the  Mexican,  con- 
sisted of  eighteen  uinals  —  Pop,  Uo,  Zip,  Zotz,  Tzec,  Xul, 
Yaxkin,  Mol,  Chen,  Yax,  Zac,  Ceh,  Mac,  Kankin,  Muan,  Pax, 
Kayab,  and  Cumhu,  —  plus  five  "nameless  days,"  or  Uayeb. 
This  year  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  is,  of  course,  a 
quarter  of  a  day  less  than  the  true  year,  and  such  astronomers 
as  the  Maya  must  have  been  could  not  have  failed  to  discover 
this  fact.  Bishop  Landa  states  explicitly  that  they  were  quite 
aware  of  it;  but  they  did  not,  in  all  probability,  resort  to  any 
intercalation  to  correct  the  defect,  for  the  whole  genius  of  the 
Mayan  calendar  consists  in  their  unswerving  maintenance  of 
the  count  of  days.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  probable  that  the 
priests  who  made  the  solar  observations  adjusted  the  seasonal 
feasts  to  the  changing  dates  as  in  the  precisely  similar  custom 
of  ancient  Egypt,  where  each  ascending  Pharaoh  swore  to  pre- 
serve the  civil  year  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  with- 
out intercalation :  the  immense  power  and  prestige  given  to  the 
priesthood  by  this  custom  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  its  perpe- 
tuity. The  fact  that  20  (uinal)  and  365  (haab}  factor  with  5 
gives,  again,  the  division  of  the  uinal  days  into  groups  of  five, 
each  headed  by  one  of  the  four  —  Ik,  Manik,  Eb.  and  Caban  — 
which  alone  could  be  New  Year's  days. 

The  names  of  the  "month,"  or  divisions  of  the  year,  like  the 
names  of  the  uinal  days,  were  symbolized  by  hieroglyphs,  and 
the  days  of  the  month  were  numbered  o  to  19,  since  in  their 
reckoning  of  time  the  Maya  always  counted  that  which  had 
elapsed.  Thus  every  day  had  a  double  designation :  its  position 


148  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

in  the  Tonalamatl,  determined  by  day-sign  and  day-number 
(i  .  .  .  13),  and  its  position  in  the  haab,  determined  by 
"month "-sign  (uinal  or  Uayeb)  and  day-number  (o  .  .  .  19), 
as,  for  example,  the  date-name  of  the  Maya  Era,  "4  Ahau  8 
Cumhu."  The  possible  combinations  of  these  elements  is  ex- 
hausted only  in  a  cycle  of  18,980  days,  equal  to  73  Tonala- 
matls  and  to  52  haabs.  This  is  the  Calendar  Round,  or  cycle 
of  date-names,  which,  like  the  other  elements  in  the  Maya 
calendar,  is  endlessly  repeated.  It  is  probable  that  the  Aztec 
had  no  such  precision  in  their  dating  system  even  within  the 
Year-Bundle,  evidence  for  the  employment  of  month-signs  in 
computation  of  the  day-series  being  uncertain. 

In  yet  another  important  respect  the  Maya  were  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  Mexicans,  for  the  latter  had  no  adequate  means  of 
distinguishing  dates  of  the  same  name  belonging  to  separate 
Year-Bundles,  in  consequence  of  which  their  historic  records 
are  full  of  confusion;  whereas  the  Maya  developed  an  elaborate 
method  —  still,  curiously  enough,  a  day-count  —  parallel  with 
the  Calendar  Round  series,  by  which  they  were  able  to  record 
historic  dates  for  immense  periods.  The  system  was  essentially 
mathematical  and  was  based  on  their  vigesimal  notation,  its 
elements  being  as  follows: 

Kin 

Uinal 

Tun  (18  Uinals) 

Katun  (20  Tuns)      

Cycle  (20  Katuns) 

Great  Cycle,  either  13  Cycles 1,872,000  days 

or  20  Cycles 2,880,000  days 

In  this  series,  it  will  be  observed,  the  third  day-group  does  not 
rise  from  the  second  by  vigesimal  multiplication;  and  it  is  as- 
sumed that  it  has  been,  as  it  were,  psychologically  deflected 
from  the  regular  ascending  series  by  the  attraction  of  the  18 
uinals  of  the  natural  year  in  order  to  bring  the  tun  into  some 
kind  of  conformity  with  the  haab.  Beyond  the  katun,  the  na- 


YUCATAN  149 

live  names  for  the  cycles  are  unknown,  though  their  symbols 
have  been  determined. 

The  series  of  units  of  time  thus  composed  is  that  employed 
by  the  Maya  of  Yucatan,  as  recovered  from  the  early  Spanish 
records  and  the  codices.  In  this  region  the  katun  was  the 
historical  unit  of  prime  significance,  for  both  Landa  and  Cogol- 
ludo  note  the  fact  that  at  the  end  of  every  katun  a  graven  stone 
was  erected  or  laid  in  the  walls  of  an  edifice  to  record  the  event. 
Study  of  the  sculptured  stelae  of  the  capitals  and  cities  of  the 
Old  Empire  of  the  south  has  convinced  archaeologists  that 
these  stelae  are  similarly,  in  great  part,  monuments  erected 
not  primarily  to  honor  men  or  commemorate  events  but  to 
mark  the  passage  of  time.  The  units,  however,  as  recorded 
from  readings  of  the  dates,  are  not  primarily  katuns  (of  7200 
days),  but  halves  and  quarters  of  the  katun.  Morley,23  to  whom 
belongs  credit  of  the  demonstration  of  the  system,  gives  to 
these  lesser  periods  the  names  hotun  ("five  tuns,"  or  1800  days) 
and  lahuntun  ("ten  tuns"  or  3600  days).  The  amazing  monu- 
mental wealth,  therefore,  of  the  old  Maya  cities  turns  out  to 
be  chiefly  due  to  the  importance  which  the  Maya  peoples  at- 
tached to  the  idea  of  time  itself  and  to  the  recording  of  its 
passage. 

Such  an  idea  could  only  have  reference  to  religious  or 
mythico-religious  beliefs,  of  the  nature  of  which  something  is 
to  be  inferred  from  the  monumental  and  codical  indications  of 
the  cycles  and  the  Great  Cycle  which  entered  into  Maya  com- 
putations. The  cycle  is  clearly  a  conception  induced  by  the 
necessities  of  vigesimal  notation,  with,  no  doubt,  mythic 
associations  suggested  by  its  pictographic  notation;  it  is  a 
period  of  twenty  katuns,  just  as  the  katun  is  twenty  tuns.  But 
the  duration  of  the  Great  Cycle  is  matter  of  dispute.  Bowditch 
and  Goodman,  basing  their  judgment  on  the  fact  that  the 
cycles  in  the  inscriptions  are  numbered  I  ...  13,  and  again 
upon  the  fact  that  the  two  known  starting-points,  or  eras,  of 
Maya  monumental  chronology  are  just  thirteen  cycles  apart, 


ISO  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

regard  the  Great  Cycle  as  composed  of  thirteen  cycles;  Morley, 
chiefly  from  evidence  in  the  codices,  believes  that  it  was  com- 
posed of  twenty  cycles.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  the  con- 
ception of  the  Great  Cycle  changed  from  the  time  of  the  Old 
Empire  to  that  of  the  New,  perhaps  influenced  by  the  change 
in  the  period  of  erecting  monumental  records;  but  in  any  case 
the  immense  numbers  of  days  embraced  in  the  Maya  reckonings 
excite  our  wonder.  Such  calculations  could  have  been  made 
possible  only  by  the  use  of  a  highly  developed  arithmetical 
system,  and  this  the  Maya  possessed;  for  they  had  developed 
a  positional  notation,  employing  a  sign  for  zero  ( © ),  a 
system  of  dots  (  .  =  I;  . .  =2;  etc.)  and  bars  ( —  5;  =  =  10; 
etc.)  for  the  integers  I  ...  19  (=;  =  19),  while  the  concep- 
tion of  positive  and  negative  was  achieved  through  the  use 
of  these  elements  recorded  vertically  —  units  above  zero, 
twenties  above  the  units,  tuns  in  the  third  position  upward, 
and  so  on*  The  tun  (  =  360)  is  an  obvious  calendric  number, 
and  this  makes  clear  that  the  Maya  certainly  developed  the 
higher  possibilities  of  their  mode  of  computation  in  connexion 
with  the  needs  of  their  reckoning  of  time.  The  perfection  of 
their  achievement  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  through  its 
use  they  were  enabled  to  distinguish  any  date  within  the  range 
of  a  Great  Cycle  from  any  other,  thus  creating  a  numbered 
time-scheme  which  in  our  own  system  would  be  measured  by 
millenia. 

To  complete  its  historical  value  only  one  element  need  be 
added,  the  selection  of  an  era  from  which  to  reckon  dates. 
Two  such  eras  are  known,  one  bearing  the  name  4  Ahau  8 
Cumhu,  and  the  other  (found  in  only  two  inscriptions)  that 
of  4  Ahau  8  Zotz,  this  falling  thirteen  cycles  earlier  than  the 
other.  The  former,  from  which  nearly  all  the  monumental  in- 
scriptions are  reckoned,  is  some  three  thousand  years  anterior 
to  the  period  of  the  inscriptions  themselves  and  probably, 
therefore,  refers  to  an  event  in  the  third  millennium  B.  c.,  as- 
suming that  the  monuments  belong  to  the  first  thousand  years 


YUCATAN  151 

of  our  era.  It  is  altogether  unlikely  that  a  date  so  remote  can 
represent  any  but  a  mythical  event,  such,  we  may  suppose,  as 
the  end  of  a  preceding  "Sun,"  or  Age  of  the  World,  and  the 
beginning  of  that  in  which  we  live;  for  the  Maya,  like  the 
Nahua,  possessed  the  myth  of  ages  of  this  type.  Cogolludo 
mentions  two  of  these  ages  as  terminated  by  annihilation  of 
the  human  race  through  epidemic,  and  a  third  as  ended  by 
storm  and  flood;  while  Landa's  account  of  the  calamities  fol- 
lowing the  destruction  of  Mayapan  seems  clearly  to  be  inter- 
mingled with  a  myth  of  world  catastrophes.  The  Popul  Fuh 
shows  that  the  character  of  the  Quiche  legend  was  not  essen- 
tially unlike  that  of  the  Aztec,  who  may,  indeed,  have  received 
from  the  Maya  their  cosmogony  along  with  their  calendric 
system,  of  which  it  is  doubtless  in  some  degree  a  product. 

Astronomical  data  must  have  entered  into  the  calculation 
of  these  great  epochs.  Forstemann  and  other  students  have 
discovered  in  the  codices,  particularly  in  the  Dresden  Codex, 
evidences  of  the  reckoning  of  the  period  not  only  of  Venus 
(five  hundred  and  eighty-four  days),  but  also  of  lunar  revolu- 
tions, of  the  period  of  Mars  (seven  hundred  and  eighty  days), 
and  possibly  of  the  cycles  Jupiter,  Saturn,  and  Mercury  as 
well.  Such  periods,  for  astrological  and  divinatory  purposes, 
were  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  priests;  and,  as  elsewhere  in 
the  world,  the  synodic  revolutions  of  the  planets,  and  the  re- 
currences of  their  stations  with  respect  to  the  day-signs,  gave 
the  material  for  the  formation  of  huge  cycles  of  time  which 
their  mathematical  system  enabled  them  to  compute.  Thus 
it  is  that  Forstemann  finds  near  the  end  of  the  Dresden  Codex 
vast  numbers  —  designated  as  "Serpent  Numbers"  because 
of  the  occurrence  of  the  serpent-symbol  in  connexion  with 
them  —  which  correspond  to  such  cyclic  recombinations  of 
signs  and  events. 

"In  the  so-called  ' serpent  numbers,'"  writes  Morley,24  "a 
grand  total  of  nearly  twelve  and  a  half  million  days  (about 
thirty-four  thousand  years)  is  recorded  again  and  again.  In 


152  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

these  well-nigh  inconceivable  periods  all  the  smaller  units  may 
be  regarded  as  coming  at  last  to  a  more  or  less  exact  close. 
What  matter  a  few  score  years  one  way  or  the  other  in  this 
virtual  eternity?  Finally,  on  the  last  page  of  the  manuscript, 
is  depicted  the  Destruction  of  the  World,  for  which  the  highest 
numbers  have  paved  the  way.  Here  we  see  the  rain  serpent, 
stretching  across  the  sky,  belching  forth  torrents  of  water. 
Great  streams  of  water  gush  from  the  sun  and  moon.  The  old 
goddess,  she  of  the  tiger  claws  and  forbidding  aspect,  the 
malevolent  patronness  of  floods  and  cloudbursts,  overturns 
the  bowl  of  the  heavenly  waters.  The  crossbones,  dread  em- 
blem of  death,  decorate  her  skirt,  and  a  writhing  snake  crowns 
her  head.  Below  with  downward-pointed  spears,  symbolic  of 
the  universal  destruction,  the  black  god  stalks  abroad,  a 
screeching  owl  raging  on  his  fearsome  head.  Here,  indeed,  is 
portrayed  with  graphic  touch  the  final  all-engulfing  cataclysm." 
In  their  sculpture  the  Maya  far  surpassed  the  artistic  ex- 
pression of  all  other  Americans,  attaining  not  only  decorative 
power,  but  such  idealization  of  the  human  countenance  as  is 
possible  only  among  people  whose  aesthetic  sensibilities  have 
an  intellectual  background  and  guidance.  No  more  con- 
vincing evidence  of  this  mental  power  could  be  forthcoming 
than  is  shown  in  their  mathematical  and  astronomical  learn- 
ing, at  once  a  testimony  to  the  antiquity  of  their  culture  and 
to  the  force  of  their  native  genius. 

VI.  THE   CREATION 

Just  as  the  notion  of  great  astronomical  cycles  shadowed 
forth  eschatological  cataclysms,  so  it  reverted  to  cyclic  aeons 
of  the  past  in  which  the  world  came  to  its  present  form.  There 
is  no  such  wealth  of  creation  myth  preserved  from  the  ancient 
Maya  as  from  the  Nahua,  but  enough  is  recorded  to  make  it 
clear  that  the  ideas  of  the  two  peoples  were  essentially  one: 
indeed,  they  clearly  belong  to  a  group  of  cosmogonical  con- 


PLATE   XXII 

Final  page  from  the  Codex  Desdensis  showing 
"Serpent  Numbers"  and  typifying  the  cataclysms 
destroying  the  world.  See  pages  151-52  for  de- 
scription, and  compare  Plates  XII,  XIII,  XIV. 


YUCATAN  153 

ceptions  extending  as  far  to  the  north  as  the  Pueblos  of  the 
United  States,  and  not  without  influence  beyond,  into  the 
prairie  country.  Possibly  the  whole  complex  conception  had 
its  first  telling  with  the  Maya;  it  is  with  them,  at  least,  that 
the  numerical  and  calendric  ideas  with  which  it  is  logically 
associated  received  the  greatest  development  and  give  the 
most  natural  raison  d'etre  to  the  mythic  lore. 

Something  of  the  nature  of  the  Maya  conception  is  intimated 
by  Cogolludo  and  Landa,  as  noted  in  a  preceding  paragraph. 
More  is  given  in  Tozzer's  account  of  Maya  religion  as  it  is  to- 
day.25 According  to  information  obtained  from  Mayas  of 
Valladolid,  the  world  is  now  in  the  fourth  period  of  its  exist- 
ence. In  the  first,  there  lived  the  Saiyamkoob,  "the  Ad- 
justers," the  primitive  race  of  Yucatan,  who  were  dwarfs  and 
built  the  cities  now  in  ruins.  Their  work  was  done  in  darkness, 
when  as  yet  there  was  no  sun.  When  the  sun  appeared  they 
were  turned  into  stone,  and  their  images  are  to  be  found  to- 
day in  the  ruins.  In  this  period  there  was  a  living  rope  ex- 
tending from  earth  to  sky,  by  which  food  was  brought  down  to 
the  builders.  Blood  was  in  this  rope;  but  the  rope  was  cut, 
the  blood  flowed  out,  and  earth  and  sky  were  parted.  Water- 
over-the-earth  ended  this  period.  It  was  followed  by  the  age 
of  the  Tsolob,  "the  Offenders";  and  these,  too,  were  de- 
stroyed by  a  flood.  The  third  age  was  that  in  which  the  Maya 
reigned,  but  their  day  likewise  passed  amid  waters  of  destruc- 
tion, to  give  place  to  the  present  age  peopled  by  a  mixture  of 
all  the  races  that  have  previously  dwelt  in  Yucatan. 

It  is  easy  to  align  these  notions  with  what  we  know  of 
Mexican  myth,  though  it  is  evident  that  history  rather  than 
genesis  is  its  present  significance.  But  purely  cosmogonic  is 
the  fragment  from  the  Book  of  Chilam  Balam  of  Chumayel 
published  by  Martinez  Hernandez26  with  its  suggestion  of  the 
Thirteen  Lords  of  the  Day  captured  by  the  Nine  of  the  Night 
as  the  first  great  act: 

"During  the  II  dhau,  Ahmucen-cab  come  [came]  to  cover 


154  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  faces  of  Oxlahun-ti-ku  (thirteen  gods);  his  names  were 
unknown  except  those  of  his  sister  and  of  his  children:  and  they 
said  that  the  faces  also  were  equally  not  visible;  then,  when  the 
world  was  made,  they  knew  not  that  they  would  be  entirely 
cast  away;  and  Oxlahun-ti-ku  was  captured  by  Bolon-ti-ku 
(nine  gods);  then  he  brought  down  fire;  then  he  brought  down 
salt;  then  he  brought  down  the  stones  and  trees  and  came  to 
play  with  the  stones  and  trees;  and  Oxlahun-ti-ku  was  caught 
and  they  broke  his  head  and  buffeted  him,  and  also  carried 
him  on  their  backs;  and  they  despoiled  him  of  his  dragon  and 
his  tizne  [black  paint  or  soot];  and  they  took  fresh  shoots  of 
yaxum  and  white  beans,  tuberous  roots  cut  up  small,  and  the 
heart  of  small  calabash  seeds  and  of  large  calabash  seeds  cut 
up  small,  and  of  black  beans  cut  up  small.  This  first  Bolon- 
tsac-cab  (nine  orders  of  the  world)  made  a  thick  covering  of 
seeds  and  went  away  to  the  thirteenth  heaven,  and  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  remained  formed,  and  the  peaks  of  the  rocks 
of  the  world. 

"And  the  heart  of  Oxlahun-ti-ku  went  away,  the  hearts  of 
the  tuberous  roots  refusing  to  go.  And  there  came  women 
without-fathers,  with  those  who  have  hard  work,  the  without- 
husbands,  who,  although  living  have  no  heart;  and  wrapped 
in  dog's  grass,  they  were  buried  in  the  sea. 

"All  at  once  came  the  water  after  the  dragon  was  carried 
away.  The  heaven  was  broken  up;  it  fell  upon  the  earth;  and 
they  say  that  Cantul-ti-ku  (four  gods),  the  four  Bacab,  were 
those  who  destroyed  it.  Then,  when  the  universal  destruc- 
tion was  past,  they  placed  as  dweller  Kan-xib-yui,  to  order  it 
anew.  And  the  tree,  the  white  ymix,  was  placed  standing  in 
the  north;  and  he  placed  the  supporting  poles  of  the  heaven; 
and  it  was  said  that  this  tree  was  the  symbol  of  the  universal 
destruction."  Four  other  trees,  each  of  a  different  colour,  each 
symbol  of  a  destruction  of  the  world,  were  planted  at  the  re- 
maining quarters  and  the  centre;  and  the  form  of  the  world 
was  then  complete.  "'The  whole  world,'  said  Ah-uuc-chek- 


YUCATAN  155 

nale  (he  who  seven  times  makes  fruitful),  'proceeded  from  the 
seven  bosoms  of  the  earth.'  And  he  descended  to  make  fruit- 
ful Itzam-kab-ain  (the  female  whale  with  alligator  feet),  when 
he  came  down  from  the  central  angle  of  the  heavenly  region. 
The  four  lights,  the  four  regions  of  the  stars,  revolved.  As 
yet  there  was  no  light;  absolutely  there  was  no  sun;  absolutely 
there  was  no  night;  absolutely  there  was  no  moon.  They 
awoke;  and  from  then  began  the  world.  At  that  instant  the 
world  began.  Thirteen  numeral  orders,  with  seven,  is  the 
period  since  the  beginning  of  the  world." 


CHAPTER  V 

CENTRAL  AMERICA 

I.    QUICHfi  AND  CAKCHIQUEL1 

BY  some  accident  of  history  the  most  significant  literary 
records  of  the  Mayan  peoples  —  and,  in  their  way,  of  any 
American  stock  —  are  not  preserved  to  us  from  the  builders  of 
the  monumental  cities,  the  Maya  themselves,  but  from  two 
closely  related  tribes  belonging  to  the  southernmost  group  of 
the  Mayan  race.  The  Quiche  (frequently,  Kiche)  and  the  Cak- 
chiquel  (or  Kakchiquel)  dwelt  in  the  mountains  of  Guatemala 
overlooking  the  Pacific,  where,  except  for  the  Nahuatlan  Pipil, 
to  the  east  of  them,  their  neighbours  were  other  Mayan  tribes 
—  the  Tzental,  the  Mame,  and  their  kindred  to  the  west;  the 
Pokonchi,  the  Kekchi,  and  others  to  the  north;  and  the  Chord 
to  the  east.  It  is  in  the  lands  of  these  groups,  mountain  valleys 
draining  toward  the  Gulf  and  the  Carribbean,  that  the  ruins  of 
the  monumental  cities  chiefly  lie.  At  the  time  of  the  Conquest 
their  sites  had  long  been  abandoned,  though  it  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  the  tribes  occupying  the  land  were  savage.  On  the 
contrary,  they  lived  in  well-built,  fortified  towns,  with  fine 
residences  for  the  chiefs  and  pyramid  temples  for  the  service  of 
the  gods ;  but  the  remains  of  the  cities  of  the  Conquest  era  have 
yielded  no  such  wealth  of  art  as  has  been  revealed  by  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  homes  of  the  ancestral  Maya,  nor  do  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  tribes  who  inhabited  the  region  at  the  coming  of  the 
Spaniards  throw  any  light  upon  the  builders  of  the  ancient 
cities  which,  indeed,  they  seem  scarcely  to  have  known.  Rather, 
when  the  Quiche  and  their  kindred  entered  the  land,  it  appears 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  157 

to  have  been  long  deserted:  "Only  rabbits  and  birds  were  here, 
they  say,  when  they  took  possession  of  the  hills  and  the  plains, 
they,  our  fathers  and  ancestors  from  Tulan,  O  my  children/'  — 
so  runs  the  beginning  of  the  Cakchiquel  Annals.2  These  Annals, 
like  the  Popul  Vuh,  or  "  Sacred  Book,"  of  the  kindred  Quiche, 
profess  to  give  a  migration-legend  of  the  ancestors  of  the  tribe 
and  an  account  of  the  historic  chiefs,  but  neither  the  one  record 
nor  the  other  runs  to  a  remote  period;  both  point  to  a  com- 
paratively recent  entrance  into  an  abandoned  country,  the  date 
of  which  Brinton  would  set  at  less  than  two  centuries  anterior 
to  the  Conquest;  nor  is  there  any  certain  clue  which  would 
associate  the  Quiche-Cakchiquel  histories  with  those  of  the 
contemporary  Maya. 

The  relationship  of  the  two  centres  of  Mayan  culture,  Yucatec 
and  Guatemalan,  is,  however,  more  than  merely  linguistic  and 
racial.  When  the  Maya  of  the  later  days  of  the  Old  Empire 
were  pushing  northward  into  the  peninsula,  exploring  and  es- 
tablishing cities,  others  of  their  kindred  were  penetrating  the 
mountains  to  the  south,  and  the  last  town  of  the  south  to  rise 
and  fall  (as  shown  by  its  dated  monuments)  was  at  Quen  Santo 
in  the  Guatemalan  province  of  Huehuetenango.  Whether  or 
not  something  of  the  old  culture  was  transmitted  through  these 
groups  or  their  descendants,  whom,  indeed,  the  Quiche  and 
Cakchiquel  may  have  been,  identities  of  mythic  reference  make 
it  certain  that  all  Maya  groups  had  some  primitive  community  of 
experience.  Moreover,  the  southern  tribes  clearly  shared  with 
the  northern  their  literary  and  artistic  bent.  The  story  of  the 
defeat  of  the  Quiche,  in  the  Cakchiquel  Annals?  tells  how  the 
latter  slew  "the  son  of  the  chief  jeweller,  the  treasurer,  the 
secretary,  and  the  chief  engraver"  of  the  Quiche  monarch  — 
officers  whose  very  character  gives  the  picture  of  an  accom- 
plished society;  and  it  may  well  be  assumed  that  the  literary 
taste  and  historic  feeling  manifest  in  the  Annals  and  the  Popul 
Vuh  are  but  evidences,  literary  rather  than  graphic  in  char- 
acter, of  the  genius  which  marks  the  whole  Mayan  race.  Bras- 


158  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

seur  de  Bourbourg  says  4  of  the  Popul  Fuh  that  "it  is  composed 
in  a  Quiche  of  great  elegance,  and  its  author  must  have  been 
one  of  the  princes  of  the  royal  family,"  while  of  the  Annals 
(which  he  names  Memorial  de  Tecpan-Atitlan,  and  which  was 
indeed,  in  greater  part  written  by  a  noble,  Don  Francisco  Er- 
nandez  Arana  Xahila)  he  declares  that  "the  style  is  varied  and 
picturesque  and  frequently  contains  passages  of  high  anima- 
tion." The  translations  of  both  documents  quite  sustain  these 
opinions  of  their  literary  excellence. 

Las  Casas,  who  was  as  familiar  as  any  man  with  the  general 
character  of  native  American  culture,  and  especially  with  that 
of  Guatemala  of  which  he  was  bishop,  gives  a  general  charac- 
terization of  native  learning  in  his  chapter  (Apologetica  His- 
toria,  ccxxxv)  on  "the  books  and  religious  traditions  of  Guate- 
mala." In  the  kingdoms  and  republics  of  New  Spain,  he  says, 
"among  other  offices  and  officials,  were  those  who  acted  as 
chroniclers  and  historians.  They  possessed  knowledge  of  the 
origin  of  all  things  relative  to  religion  and  to  the  gods  and  their 
cult,  as  well  as  of  the  founders  of  their  cities,  of  the  beginnings 
of  their  kings  and  lords  and  seignories,  of  the  manner  of  their 
election  and  succession,  of  how  many  and  what  lords  and 
princes  had  passed  away,  of  their  works  and  actions  and  memo- 
rable deeds,  good  and  bad,  and  of  whatever  they  had  governed 
well  or  ill;  also,  of  their  great  men  and  good,  and  of  strong  and 
valorous  captains,  of  the  wars  that  they  had  made,  and  of  how 
they  had  distinguished  themselves.  Moreover,  of  the  first 
customs  and  the  first  comers,  of  how  they  had  since  changed 
for  good  or  ill,  and  of  all  that  pertains  to  history,  in  order  that 
they  might  have  understanding  and  remembrance  of  past 
events."  Furthermore,  he  adds,  these  chroniclers  kept  count 
of  the  days,  months,  and  years,  and  "although  they  had  no 
writing  similar  to  ours,  nevertheless  they  had  figures  and  char- 
acters representing  all  that  they  needed  to  designate,  and,  by 
means  of  these,  great  books  of  such  clever  and  ingenious  art 
that  we  may  say  that  our  letters  were  of  no  great  advantage  to 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  159 

them."    The  office  of  chronicler,  it  is  added,  was  hereditary, 
or  belonged  to  certain  families. 

After  the  Conquest  many  of  the  natives  who  had  acquired  the 
alphabet  adapted  it  to  their  own  tongue  and  recorded  their 
histories  in  the  new  characters.  Numbers  of  such  books  were 
known  to  the  Spanish  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  it  is 
from  these  that  the  Popul  Fuh  and  the  Cakchiquel  Annals  have 
survived. 

II.   THE   POPUL  VUH5 

The  Popul  Fuh  is  the  most  striking  and  instructive  of  the 
myth-records  of  primitive  America.  Other  legends  are  as  com- 
prehensive in  scope,  as  varied  in  material,  and  as  dramatic  in 
form;  but  no  other,  in  anything  like  the  measure  of  this  docu- 
ment, combines  with  these  qualities  the  element  of  critical 
consciousness,  giving  the  flavour  of  philosophic  reflection 
which  lifts  the  narrative  from  the  level  of  mere  tale-telling  into 
that  of  literature.  Something  of  this  character  is  clearly  due 
to  the  fact  that  it  was  written  down  after  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  by  an  author,  or  authors,  professing  the  new  faith; 
yet  it  is  equally  clear  to  a  reader  of  our  day  that  this  is  not  the 
whole  cause,  that  there  is  in  the  aboriginal  material  itself  such 
an  element  of  deliberate  reflection  as  appears  in  the  Aztec 
rituals  recorded  by  Sahagun  and  in  some  of  the  Incaic  frag- 
ments, though  scarcely  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  New  World, 
at  least  in  the  myths  as  they  have  been  preserved  to  us. 

The  work  is  divided  into  four  parts,  consciously  literary  in 
arrangement.  The  first  recounts  the  creation  of  the  earth  and 
of  the  First  Peoples,  together  with  the  conflicts  of  the  Hero 
Brothers  with  Titan-like  Earth-giants.  The  second  part  de- 
picts the  duel  of  the  upper-world  heroes  with  the  nether-world 
demonic  powers:  an  elder  pair  of  Hero  Brothers  are  defeated, 
later  to  be  avenged  by  the  younger  Hero  Brothers  —  the 
slayers  of  the  Earth-giants  —  who  overcome  Death  in  his  own 
lair  and  by  his  own  wile.  This  incident  of  "the  harrowing  of 


160  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Hell "  belongs  in  mythic  chronology  to  a  cycle  of  events  earlier 
in  part  than  the  gigantomachy,  and  it  is  obviously  for  dramatic 
reasons  that  the  longest  book  of  the  Popul  Fuh  is  devoted  to  it. 
With  the  third  part  the  original  narrative  is  resumed,  narrating 
the  creation  of  the  ancestors  of  the  present  race  of  men  and  the 
rise  of  the  Sun  which  now  rules  the  world ;  while  the  fourth  and 
last  part  continues  the  tale,  giving  myths  of  cult  origins,  tribal 
wars,  and  finally  records  of  historic  rulers,  thus  satisfying  the 
feeling  for  consecutiveness  and  completeness. 

"Admirable  is  the  account"  —  so  the  narrative  opens  — 
"admirable  is  the  account  of  the  time  in  which  it  came  to  pass 
that  all  was  formed  in  heaven  and  upon  earth,  the  quartering  of 
their  signs,  their  measure  and  alignment,  and  the  establishment 
of  parallels  to  the  skies  and  upon  the  earth  to  the  four  quarters 
thereof,  as  was  spoken  by  the  Creator  and  Maker,  the  Mother, 
the  Father  of  life  and  of  all  existence,  that  one  by  whom  all 
move  and  breathe,  father  and  sustainer  of  the  peace  of  peoples, 
by  whose  wisdom  was  premeditated  the  excellence  of  all  that 
doth  exist  in  the  heavens,  upon  the  earth,  in  lake  and  sea. 

•"Lo,  all  was  in  suspense,  all  was  calm  and  silent;  all  was  mo- 
tionless, all  was  quiet,  and  wide  was  the  immensity  of  the 
skies. 

"Lo,  the  first  word  and  the  first  discourse.  There  was  not 
yet  a  man,  not  an  animal;  there  were  no  birds  nor  fish  nor  cray- 
fish; there  was  no  wood,  no  stone,  no  bog,  no  ravine,  neither 
vegetation  nor  marsh;  only  the  sky  existed. 

"The  face  of  the  earth  was  not  yet  to  be  seen;  only  the  peace- 
ful sea  and  the  expanse  of  the  heavens. 

"Nothing  was  yet  formed  into  a  body;  nothing  was  joined  to 
another  thing;  naught  held  itself  poised;  there  was  not  a  rustle, 
not  a  sound  beneath  the  sky.  There  was  naught  that  stood 
upright;  there  were  only  the  quiet  waters  of  the  sea,  solitary 
within  its  bounds ;  for  as  yet  naught  existed. 

"There  were  only  immobility  and  silence  in  the  darkness  and 
in  the  night.  Alone  was  the  Creator,  the  Maker,  Tepeu,  the 


PLATE  XXIII 

Ceremonial  precinct  or  plaza,  Quirigua.  An 
altar  and  three  stelae  of  the  Old  Empire  Maya  type 
are  shown.  Other  monuments  are  still  in  situ  on 
this  site,  among  them  the  "Quirigua  Dragon," 
Plate  I  (frontispiece).  After  photograph  by  Cornell, 
Lincoln. 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  161 

Lord,  and  Gucumatz,  the  Plumed  Serpent,  those  who  engender, 
those  who  give  being,  alone  upon  the  waters  like  a  growing 
light. 

"They  are  enveloped  in  green  and  azure,  whence  is  the  name 
Gucumatz,  and  their  being  is  great  wisdom.  Lo,  how  the  sky 
existeth,  how  the  Heart  of  the  Sky  existeth  —  for  such  is  the 
name  of  God,  as  He  doth  name  Himself ! 

"  It  is  then  that  the  word  came  to  Tepeu  and  to  Gucumatz, 
in  the  shadows  and  in  the  night,  and  spake  with  Tepeu  and 
with  Gucumatz.  And  they  spake  and  consulted  and  meditated, 
and  they  joined  their  words  and  their  counsels. 

"Then  light  came  while  they  consulted  together;  and  at  the 
moment  of  dawn  man  appeared  while  they  planned  concerning 
the  production  and  increase  of  the  groves  and  of  the  climbing 
vines,  there  in  the  shade  and  in  the  night,  through  that  one  who 
is  the  Heart  of  the  Sky,  whose  name  is  Hurakan. 

"The  Lightning  is  the  first  sign  of  Hurakan;  the  second  is 
the  Streak  of  Lightning;  the  third  is  the  Thunderbolt  which 
striketh;  and  these  three  are  the  Heart  of  the  Sky. 

"Then  they  came  to  Tepeu,  to  Gucumatz,  and  held  counsel 
touching  civilized  life:  how  seed  should  be  formed,  how  light 
should  be  produced,  how  the  sustainer  and  nourisher  of  all. 

'"Let  it  be  thus  done.  Let  the  waters  retire  and  cease  to 
obstruct,  to  the  end  that  earth  exist  here,  that  it  harden  itself 
and  show  its  surface,  to  the  end  that  it  be  sown,  and  that  the 
light  of  day  shine  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth;  for  we 
shall  receive  neither  glory  nor  honour  from  all  that  we  have 
created  and  formed  until  human  beings  exist,  endowed  with 
sentience.'  Thus  they  spake  while  the  earth  was  formed  by 
them.  It  is  thus,  veritably,  that  creation  took  place,  and  the 
earth  existed.  *  Earth,'  they  said,  and  immediately  it  was 
formed. 

"Like  a  fog  or  a  cloud  was  its  formation  into  the  material 
state,  when,  like  great  lobsters,  the  mountains  appeared  upon 
the  waters,  and  in  an  instant  there  were  great  mountains.  Only 


162  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

by  marvellous  power  could  have  been  achieved  this  their  resolu- 
tion when  the  mountains  and  the  valleys  instantly  appeared 
with  groves  of  cypress  and  pine  upon  them. 

"Then  was  Gucumatz  filled  with  joy.  'Thou  art  welcome,  O 
Heart  of  the  Sky,  O  Hurakan,  O  Streak  of  Lightning,  O  Thun- 
derbolt!' 

"This  that  we  have  created  and  shaped  will  have  its  end,' 
they  replied. 

"And  thus  first  were  formed  the  earth,  the  mountains,  and 
the  plains;  and  the  course  of  the  waters  was  divided,  the  rivulets 
running  serpentine  among  the  mountains;  it  is  thus  that  the 
waters  existed  when  the  great  mountains  were  unveiled. 

"Thus  was  accomplished  the  creation  of  the  earth  when  it 
was  formed  by  those  who  are  the  Heart  of  the  Sky  and  the 
Heart  of  the  Earth;  for  so  those  are  called  who  first  made  fruit- 
ful the  heaven  and  the  earth  while  yet  they  were  suspended  in 
the  midst  of  the  waters.  Such  was  its  fecundation  when  they 
fecundated  it  while  its  fulfilment  and  its  composition  were 
meditated  by  them." 

So  runs  the  first  chapter  of  the  Quiche  Genesis,  displaying 
at  the  outset  an  odd  intermingling,  which  characterizes  the 
whole  work,  of  the  raw  actuality  of  primitive  imagination  with 
the  dramatic  reflection  of  the  mind  of  the  sage. 

The  second  act  of  the  drama  is  the  creation  of  denizens,  or 
rather  histrions,  for  the  stage  that  is  set;  and  the  Quiche  narra- 
tor, with  remarkable  ease,  casts  them  in  puppet  mould,  a  back- 
ground of  grandiosity  serving  still  further  to  belittle  the  dolls 
which  are  the  Creator's  experiments.  First,  the  animals  are 
formed  and  assigned  their  dwellings  and  their  habits:  "Thou, 
Deer,  shalt  sleep  on  the  borders  of  brooks  and  in  the  ravines; 
there  shalt  thou  rest  in  the  brushwood,  amid  forage;  and  there 
multiply;  thou  shalt  go  upon  four  feet,  and  upon  four  feet 
shalt  thou  live."  This  is  the  style  in  which  the  creatures  of 
land  and  air  and  water  are  severally  addressed.  Nevertheless  — 
and  here  is  the  philosophic  touch  —  the  animals  could  not 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  163 

speak,  as  man  does;  they  had  no  language;  they  could  only 
chatter  and  cluck  and  croak,  each  according  to  its  kind.  This 
is  very  far  from  the  most  primitive  stratum  of  thought,  where 
all  animals  are  gifted  with  language. 

"When  the  Creator  and  the  Maker  understood  that  they 
could  not  speak,  they  said  one  to  another:  'They  are  unable 
to  utter  our  name,  although  we  are  their  makers  and  formers. 
This  is  not  well.'  And  they  spake  to  the  animals:  'Our 
glory  is  not  perfect  in  that  ye  do  not  invoke  us;  but  there 
shall  yet  be  those  who  can  salute  us  and  who  will  be  capable 
of  obedience.  As  for  you,  your  flesh  shall  be  broken  under 
the  tooth.'" 

Seed-time  was  approaching,  and  dawn;  and  the  divine  beings 
said,  "Let  us  make  those  who  shall  be  our  supporters  and 
nourishers."  Then  they  formed  men  out  of  moist  earth,  but 
these  proved  to  be  without  cohesion  or  consistence  or  power 
of  movement;  they  could  not  turn  their  heads;  their  sight  was 
veiled;  although  they  had  speech,  they  had  no  intelligence; 
the  waters  destroyed  them  helplessly;  and  their  makers  saw 
that  their  handiwork  was  a  failure.  Now  they  consulted  with 
Xpiyacoc  and  Xmucane  (Mayan  equivalents  of  Cipactonal 
and  Oxomoco,  like  whom  they  were  addressed  as  "Twice 
Grandmother,"  "Twice  Grandsire");  while  Hurakan  of  the 
Winds  and  He  of  the  Sun  were  also  called  into  the  council.  There 
they  divined  with  kernels  of  maize  and  with  red  berries  of  the 
tzite;  and  when  noon  came  they  said :  "  O  Maize,  O  Tzite,  O  Sun, 
O  Creature,  unite  and  join  one  another!  And  thou,  O  Heart  of 
the  Sky,  redden  that  the  countenance  of  Tepeu,  of  Gucumatz, 
be  not  made  to  lower!"  Then  they  carved  manikins  of  wood 
and  caused  them  to  live  and  to  multiply  and  to  engender  sons 
and  daughters  who  were  also  manikins,  carved  and  wooden. 
But  these  had  neither  heart  nor  intelligence  nor  memory  of 
their  creators;  they  led  a  useless  and  animal  existence;  they 
were  only  experimental  men;  they  had  no  blood,  no  substance, 
no  flesh;  and  their  faces  and  their  limbs  were  dry  and  desic- 


164  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

cated.     They  thought  not  of  their  Makers,  nor  did  they  lift 
their  heads  to  them. 

The  gods,  again  disappointed,  resolved  upon  the  destruction 
of  the  manikin  race  and  caused  a  heavy,  resinous  rain  to  descend 
day  and  night,  darkening  the  face  of  the  earth.  Moreover,  four 
great  birds  were  sent  to  assail  these  creatures  of  wood :  Xecot- 
covach  snatched  their  eyes  from  their  orbits;  Camalotz  attacked 
their  heads,  and  Cotzbalam  their  flesh,  while  Tecumbalam 
broke  their  bones,  and  animals  great  and  small  turned  against 
them.  "Ye  have  done  ill  to  us,"  cried  their  dogs  and  their 
fowls;  "now  we  shall  bite  you;  in  your  turn  ye  shall  be  tor- 
mented." Even  the  pots  and  cooking  utensils  arose  in  rebellion. 
The  metates  said:  "We  were  tortured  by  you;  daily,  daily, 
night  and  day,  always  it  was  holi,  holi,  huqui,  huqui,  grinding 
our  surfaces  because  of  you.  This  we  have  suffered  from  you; 
now  that  ye  have  ceased  to  be  men,  ye  shall  feel  our  power; 
we  shall  grind  you  and  reduce  your  flesh  to  powder;"  and  the 
bowls  and  pots  followed  with  similar  threats  and  imprecations. 
The  victims  ran  everywhere  in  desperate  efforts  to  escape: 
they  ascended  to  the  roofs  of  their  houses,  but  the  houses  col- 
lapsed; they  wished  to  climb  the  trees,  but  the  trees  drew  away 
from  them;  they  sought  to  enter  the  caverns,  but  these  closed 
against  them.  All  were  destroyed,  and  there  remained  of  their 
descendants  only  the  little  monkeys  that  live  in  the  trees,  which 
is  token  that  "of  wood  alone  their  flesh  was  formed  by  the 
Creator  and  Maker." 

After  the  destruction  of  the  manikins  is  narrated,  the  Popul 
Vuh  digresses  to  recount  the  deeds  of  the  Hero  Brothers, 
Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque;  and  it  is  only  in  the  third  part  of 
the  work  that  the  tale  of  creation  is  resumed,  the  beginnings 
of  the  present  "Sun"  of  the  world  being  its  theme. 

Once  more  the  demiurgic  gods  meditated  the  creation  of  man, 
and  once  more  they  gathered  for  counsel  in  the  cosmic  dusk,  for 
though  the  dawn  was  near,  the  world  was  not  yet  illuminated. 
It  was  then  that  they  heard  of  the  white  and  the  yellow  maize 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  165 

in  the  Place  of  the  Division  of  the  Waters ;  and  it  was  decided 
that  from  these  should  be  made  the  blood  and  the  flesh  of  man. 
"Then  they  began  to  grind  the  white  maize  and  the  yellow, 
while  Xumucane  concocted  nine  broths;  and  this  nourishment 
entering  in,  generated  strength  and  power,  giving  flesh  and 
muscles  to  man.  .  .  .  Only  yellow  maize  and  white  entered 
into  their  flesh,  and  these  were  the  sole  substance  of  the  legs 
and  arms  of  man;  thus  were  formed  our  first  fathers,  the  four 
brothers,  who  were  formed  of  it,"  whose  names  were  Balam- 
Quitze,  Balam-Agab,  Mahucutah,  and  Iqi-Balam.  "Men  they 
were;  they  spake  and  they  reasoned;  they  saw  and  they  under- 
stood; they  moved  and  they  had  feeling;  men  perfect  and  fair, 
whose  features  were  human  features." 

These  beings,  however,  were  too  highly  endowed;  they  lifted 
up  their  eyes,  and  their  gaze  embraced  all;  they  knew  all  things; 
nothing  in  heaven  or  earth  was  concealed  from  them.  The 
Maker  asked:  "Is  not  your  being  good?  Do  ye  not  see?  Do 
ye  not  understand?  Your  speech  and  your  movement,  are 
they  not  admirable?  Look  up,  are  there  not  mountains  and 
plains  under  the  sky?"  Then  the  created  ones  rendered  thanks 
to  their  Creator,  saying:  "Truly,  thou  gavest  us  every  motion 
and  accomplishment!  We  have  received  existence,  we  have 
received  a  mouth,  a  face;  we  speak,  we  understand,  we  think, 
we  walk;  we  perceive  and  we  know  equally  well  what  is  far  and 
what  is  near;  we  see  all  things,  great  and  small,  in  heaven  and 
upon  the  earth.  Thanks  be  to  you  who  have  created  us,  O 
Maker,  O  Former!"  But  the  Makers  were  not  pleased  to  hear 
this.  "This  is  not  well!  Their  nature  will  not  be  that  of  simple 
creatures;  they  will  be  as  gods.  .  .  .  Would  they  perchance 
rival  us  who  have  made  them,  whose  wisdom  extendeth  far 
and  knoweth  all  things?"  Thus  spoke  Hurakan,  and  Tepeu, 
and  Gucumatz,  and  the  divine  pair  Xpiyacoc  and  Xmucane. 
Then  the  Heart  of  the  Sky  breathed  a  cloud  upon  the  eyes  of 
the  four  men,  veiling  itself  so  that  it  appeared  like  a  mirror 
covered  with  vapour;  and  their  vision  was  obscured,  so  that 


1 66  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

they  could  clearly  see  only  what  was  near  them.  Thus  their 
knowledge  and  their  wisdom  were  reduced  to  mortal  propor- 
tions; and  being  caused  to  slumber,  during  their  sleep  four 
beautiful  women  were  brought  to  be  their  wives,  so  that  when 
they  awoke,  they  were  filled  with  joy  of  their  espousals. 

The  generations  of  humanity  increased,  men  living  together 
in  joy  and  peace.  They  had  but  a  single  language  and  they 
prayed  neither  to  wood  nor  to  stone,  but  only  to  the  Maker 
and  Former,  Heart  of  the  Sky  and  Heart  of  the  Earth,  their 
prayer  being  for  children  and  for  light,  for  the  sun  had  not  yet 
risen.  As  time  passed  and  no  sun  appeared,  men  became  dis- 
quieted, so  that  the  four  brothers  set  forth  for  Tulan-Zuiva, 
the  Place  of  Seven  Caves  and  Seven  Ravines,  where  they  re- 
ceived their  gods,  a  deity  for  each  clan,  Tohil  being  the  divinity 
of  Balam-Quitze,  Avilix  of  Balam-Agab,  Hacavitz  of  Mahu- 
cutah,  and  Nicahtagah  of  Iqi-Balam.  Tohil's  first  gift  was  fire, 
and  when  rains  extinguished  the  first  flame,  he  kindled  it  anew 
by  striking  upon  his  foot-gear,  whereupon  men  of  other  tribes, 
their  teeth  chattering  with  cold,  came  to  the  brothers  praying 
for  a  little  of  their  fire.  "They  were  not  well  received,  and 
their  hearts  were  filled  with  sadness,"  is  the  rather  brutal 
comment;  but  the  motive  turns  out  to  be  yet  more  brutal,  for 
as  a  price  of  fire  Tohil  demanded  that  these  strangers  "embrace 
me,  Tohil,  under  the  armpit  and  under  the  girdle,"  a  euphe- 
mism which  can  refer  only  to  the  customary  form  of  human 
sacrifice. 

Even  yet  the  sun  had  not  appeared,  and  the  race  of  man  was 
saddened  by  the  delay.  They  fasted  and  performed  expiations, 
keeping  continual  watch  for  the  Morning  Star,  which  should 
herald  the  first  sunrise.  Finally  in  despair  they  resumed  their 
migration:  "Alas!"  they  said,  "here  we  shall  never  behold  the 
dawn  at  the  moment  when  the  sun  is  born  to  lighten  the  face 
of  the  earth!"  The  journey  led  through  many  lands  until 
finally  they  came  to  the  mountain  of  Hacavitz,  where  the 
brothers  burned  incense  which  they  had  brought  from  "the 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  167 

place  of  sunrise"  and  where  they  watched  the  Morning  Star 
ascend  with  waxing  splendour  on  the  dawn  of  the  rising  sun. 
As  the  orb  appeared,  the  animals,  great  and  small,  were  filled 
with  joy,  while  all  the  nations  prostrated  themselves  in  adora- 
tion. The  new  sun  did  not  burn  with  the  heat  of  the  sun  of 
today,  but  was  like  a  pale  reflection  of  ours;  nevertheless  it 
dried  the  dank  earth  and  made  it  habitable.  Moreover,  the 
great  beast-gods  of  the  first  days  —  lion,  tiger,  and  noxious 
viper  —  together  with  the  gods  Tohil,  Avilix,  and  Hacavitz, 
were  changed  into  stone  as  the  sun  appeared  —  "their  arms 
cramped  like  the  branches  of  trees  .  .  .  and  in  all  parts  they 
became  stone.  Perhaps  we  should  not  be  in  life  at  this  moment 
because  of  the  voracity  of  the  lions,  the  tigers,  the  vipers,  the 
qantis,  and  the  White  Fire-Maker  of  the  Night;  perchance 
our  glory  would  not  now  exist  had  not  the  first  animals  been 
petrified  by  the  sun." 

Nevertheless  sorrow  mingled  with  joy,  for  though  the  ances- 
tors of  the  Quiche  had  found  their  mountain  home,  illumined 
by  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  they  remembered  their 
kindred  left  behind;  and  even  when  they  sang  the  song  Ka- 
mucu  ("We  behold"),  the  anguish  in  their  hearts  came  also 
to  expression.  "Alas!  we  were  ruined  in  Tollan;  we  were 
parted  from  our  brethren,  who  still  remain  behind!  True, 
indeed,  we  have  beheld  the  Sun,  but  they,  where  now  are  they, 
when  at  last  the  day  hath  come?"  Years  afterward,  when  the 
Quiche  had  become  great  under  the  leadership  of  the  four 
heroes,  the  brothers  foresaw  the  day  of  their  death  drawing 
near;  and  again,  with  dolour  of  soul,  they  sang  the  song  Ka- 
mucu,  bidding  farewell  to  their  wives  and  their  sons,  and  say- 
ing: "We  return  to  our  people;  even  now  the  King  of  the  Deer 
riseth  into  the  sky.  Lo,  we  make  our  return;  our  task  is  per- 
formed; our  days  are  complete."  Thereupon  they  disappeared, 
vanishing  without  trace,  excepting  that  in  their  place  was  left 
a  sacred  bundle  which  was  never  to  be  opened  and  which  was 
•called  "Majesty  Enveloped." 


1 68  LATIN-AMERICAN   MYTHOLOGY 

III.     THE   HERO   BROTHERS 

The  deeds  of  the  Hero  Brothers  in  the  Popul  Fuh  take  place 
in  an  epoch  of  the  world  previous  to  the  rise  of  the  present  Sun. 
Apparently  they  fall  in  an  Age  of  Giants  just  succeeding  the 
destruction  of  the  manikins,  for  the  narrative  proceeds  from 
the  tale  of  the  annihilation  of  these  beings  to  the  overthrow, 
by  the  twins  Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque,  of  the  Earth  Titans, 
stating  that  the  events  occurred  in  the  days  of  the  inundation. 
Vukub-Cakix  was  the  first  of  the  Giants,  and  his  sin  was  the 
sin  of  hybris,  for  he  boasted:  "I  shall  be  yet  again  above  all 
created  beings;  I  am  their  sun,  I  am  their  dawn,  I  am  their 
moon.  Great  is  my  splendour;  I  am  he  by  whom  men  move. 
Of  silver  are  the  balls  of  my  eyes,  gleaming  like  precious  stones ; 
and  the  whiteness  of  my  teeth  is  like  the  face  of  the  sky.  My 
nostrils  shine  afar  like  the  moon;  of  silver  is  my  throne,  and 
the  earth  liveth  when  I  step  forth  from  it.  I  am  the  sun,  I  am 
the  moon,  the  bringer  of  felicity.  So  be  it,  for  my  gaze  reacheth 
afar!"  This  is  obviously  a  hymn  to  the  sun;  and  it  is  possible 
that  it  refers  to  a  mythic  "Sun  of  Giants,"  although  the 
narrator  clearly  takes  it  in  another  sense :  "  In  reality  his  sight 
ended  where  it  fell,  and  his  gaze  did  not  embrace  the  entire 
world."  It  was,  in  fact,  because  of  his  riches  (metals  and 
precious  stones)  that  Vukub-Cakix  thought  to  emulate  the 
sun  and  the  moon. 

It  was  for  their  pride  and  arrogance  that  Vukub-Cakix  and 
his  sons,  Zipacna  and  Cabrakan,  were  successively  overcome 
and  destroyed  by  the  hero  brothers.  "Attention,  it  is  I  who 
am  the  sun,"  cried  Vukub-Cakix;  "it  is  I  who  move  the  earth," 
said  Zipacna;  "and  it  is  I  that  shake  the  sky  and  overturn  the 
the  whole  earth,"  quoth  Cabrakan.  Indeed,  such  was  their 
strength  that  they  could  move  mountains,  great  and  small, 
at  will;  and  since  such  orgulous  Titans  could  be  overcome  only 
by  craft,  even  with  demi-gods  for  their  adversaries,  it  was  by 
craft  that  Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque  conquered  them. 


PLATE  XXIV 

Image  of  a  youthful  deity  with  elaborate  head- 
dress seated  in  the  mouth  of  the  "Dragon  of  Quiri- 
gua"  (see  frontispiece).  After  a  photograph  in  the 
Peabody  Museum. 


V 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  169 

Vukub-Cakix  possessed  a  tree  the  fruit  of  which  was  his 
food,  and  the  twins,  concealing  themselves  in  its  branches, 
shot  the  giant  in  the  cheek  with  a  poisoned  arrow  when  he 
came  for  his  meal,  though  they  did  not  escape  uninjured,  for 
he  tore  away  one  of  Hunahpu's  arms.  The  monster  went  home, 
roaring  with  pain,  and  the  two  plotters,  disguising  themselves 
as  physicians,  came  offering  to  cure  his  malady  and  saying: 
"You  suffer  from  a  worm  but  you  can  be  cured  if  your  jaw  is 
altered  by  removing  the  bad  teeth."  "It  is  by  my  teeth  alone 
that  I  am  king;  all  my  beauty  comes  from  my  teeth  and  the 
balls  of  mine  eyes."  "We  will  put  others  in  their  place,"  they 
said;  and  so  they  substituted  teeth  of  maize  for  the  emerald 
teeth  of  the  giant  and  flayed  the  splendour  from  his  eyes.  The 
splendour  faded  from  him;  he  ceased  to  appear  like  a  king; 
and  soon  he  died,  while  Hunahpu  recovered  his  arm,  which 
Chimalmat,  the  wife  of  Vukub-Cakix,  was  basting  on  a  spit; 
and  the  twins  turned  away  in  triumph.  Zipacna  was  the  next 
victim.  First,  the  brothers  conspired  with  four  hundred  youths 
(doubtless  the  same  as  the  "Four  Hundred  Southerners"  of 
the  Huitzilopochtli  myth)  to  lure  Zipacna  into  a  pitfall,  where 
they  tried  to  destroy  him  by  hurling  huge  trees  upon  him;  and 
when  all  was  quiet,  the  plotters  erected  a  house  on  the  spot, 
making  merry  with  drink  and  celebrating  their  triumph.  But 
the  giant  was  only  craftily  biding  his  time,  and,  rising  suddenly, 
he  cast  house  and  revellers  high  into  the  heavens,  where  the 
four  hundred  became  stars  and  constellations.  The  twins 
then  decided  upon  another  decoy.  Since  the  food  of  Zipacna 
was  sea-food,  especially  crabs,  they  modelled  a  great  crab,  and 
painting  it  cunningly  they  put  it  into  a  deep  ravine.  Encoun- 
tering the  giant  on  his  food  search,  they  pointed  out  this  fine 
crab;  he  leaped  after  it,  and  they  —  wiser  by  experience  — 
hurled  mountains  upon  him,  thus  imprisoning  him,  though  so 
desperate  were  his  struggles  for  freedom  that  they  turned  him 
into  stone  to  quiet  him.  The  third  giant,  Cabrakan,  was 
also  made  the  victim  of  his  own  gluttony  and  pride.  The 


170  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

brothers  challenged  him  to  shift  a  certain  mountain,  for  he 
boasted  that  he  could  remove  the  greatest;  but  as  he  was  pre- 
paring to  show  his  strength,  they  suggested  that  he  first  partake 
of  food,  and  shooting  a  bird,  they  cooked  it  for  him,  taking  care 
to  poison  it  in  the  process.  The  giant  devoured  the  bird  the 
more  greedily  in  that  it  was  his  first  taste  of  cooked  meat;  but 
immediately  his  strength  began  to  fail,  and  his  eyes  to  dim; 
and  while  the  brothers  twittingly  urged  him  to  make  good  his 
boasts,  he  sank  to  earth  dead. 

The  great  adventure  of  the  heroic  twins,  however,  was  their 
triumph  over  the  Lords  of  Death,  and  to  this  the  second  part 
of  the  Popul  Vuh  is  devoted.  The  tale  begins  with  the  story  of 
an  earlier  pair  of  Hero  Brothers,  Hunhun-Ahpu  and  Vukub- 
Ahpu,  sons  of  Xpiyacoc  and  Xmucane.  Hunhun-Ahpu,  in 
turn,  was  father  of  Hunbatz  and  Hunchouen,  two  youths  who 
seem  to  be  little  more  than  foils  for  the  hero  twins  later  to 
be  born;  although  they  are  described  as  wise  in  all  the  arts, 
as  players  of  the  flute,  singers,  blow-gun  shooters,  painters, 
sculptors,  jewel-workers,  and  smiths. 

Hunhun-Ahpu  and  his  brother,  Vukub-Ahpu,  being  de- 
voted to  tlachtli,  exercised  themselves  at  this  sport  every  day. 
As  they  played,  they  journeyed  toward  Xibalba,  the  under- 
world, whose  lords,  Hun-Came  and  Vukub-Came,  also  were 
clever  at  the  ball  game.  Therefore,  thinking  to  trap  the  upper- 
world  champions,  they  of  the  nether  realm  sent  them  a  chal- 
lenge —  four  owls  were  their  messengers  —  to  meet  in  an 
underworld  match;  and  the  brothers  accepting  the  challenge, 
set  out  for  Xibalba.  Passing  down  a  steep  descent,  they  soon 
crossed  a  river  in  a  deep  gorge,  next  a  boiling  river,  and  then  a 
river  of  blood,  after  which,  beyond  a  fourth  river,  they  came  to 
cross-roads,  red,  black,  white,  and  yellow.  The  guardian  of 
the  black  road  said :  "  I  am  the  way  to  the  king" ;  but  it  led  them 
to  a  place  where  two  wooden  images  were  seated.  These  the 
brothers  saluted;  and  receiving  no  response  except  the  ribald 
laughter  of  the  Xibalbans,  the  heroes  knew  that  they  had 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  171 

been  made  butts  of  ridicule.  The  brothers  angrily  issued  their 
challenge,  and  the  Xibalbans  invited  them  to  seats  on  the 
throne  of  honour;  but  this  proved  to  be  a  heated  stone,  and  when 
they  burned  themselves,  the  princes  of  Xibalba  could  scarcely 
contain  their  merriment.  The  brothers  were  then  given  torches 
and  conducted  to  the  House  of  Gloom,  with  injunctions  to 
keep  the  lights  undiminished  until  the  dawn;  but  the  torches 
were  speedily  consumed,  and  when,  next  day,  they  were  brought 
before  Hun-Came  and  Vukub-Came  who  demanded  the  lights, 
they  could  only  reply,  "They  are  consumed,  Lords."  There- 
upon, at  the  command  of  the  underworld-gods,  the  brothers 
were  sacrificed,  and  their  bodies  were  buried;  only,  the  head  of 
Hunhun-Ahpu  was  placed  in  a  fruit-tree,  where  it  was  im- 
mediately transformed  so  as  to  be  indistinguishable  from  the 
gourd-like  fruits  which  the  tree  bore. 

The  Xibalbans  were  prohibited  from  approaching  this  tree, 
but  a  certain  maiden,  Xquiq  ("Princess  Blood"),  having  heard 
of  it,  said  to  herself:  "Why  should  I  not  go  to  see  this  tree;  in 
sooth,  its  fruits  should  be  sweet,  according  to  what  I  hear  said 
of  it."  She  approached  the  tree  in  admiration:  "Are  such  the 
fruits  of  this  tree?  And  should  I  die  were  I  to  pluck  one?" 
Then  the  head  in  the  midst  said:  "Do  you  indeed  desire  it? 
These  round  lumps  among  the  branches  of  the  tree  are  only 
death's-heads!"  Nevertheless,  Xquiq  was  insistent,  where- 
upon Hunhun-Ahpu's  head  demanded  that  she  stretch  forth  her 
hand,  and,  by  a  violent  effort,  he  spat  into  it,  saying:  "This 
saliva  and  foam  which  I  give  thee  is  my  posterity.  Behold,  my 
head  will  cease  to  speak,  for  it  is  only  a  death's-head,  with  no 
longer  any  flesh.  So  it  is  also  with  the  head  of  even  the  greatest 
of  princes;  for  it  is  the  flesh  alone  that  adorneth  the  visage, 
whence  cometh  the  horror  which  besetteth  men  at  the  moment 
of  death."  He  then  directed  the  maiden  to  flee  to  the  upper 
world,  knowing  that  she  would  be  pursued  by  the  underworld- 
powers;  and  these,  indeed,  when  they  heard  that  Xquiq  was 
enceinte,  demanded  that  she  be  sacrificed,  sending  Owl-Men 


172  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

to  execute  their  doom.  But  the  princess  beguiled  the  Owls, 
inducing  them  to  substitute  for  her  heart  the  coagulated  sap  of 
the  bloodwort,  the  odour  of  which  they  took  to  be  the  scent  of 
blood,  while  she  herself  fled  to  the  protection  of  the  mother  of 
Hunbatz  and  Hunchouen.  The  latter  demanded  proof  that 
the  new  comer  was  indeed  her  daughter-in-law  and  sent  Xquiq 
into  the  field  for  maize.  There  was  but  one  hill  in  the  field, 
whereupon  the  maiden  appealed  for  aid  to  the  gods,  by  whose 
miraculous  help  she  was  enabled  to  gather  a  full  burden 
without  disturbing  the  single  hill.  This  miracle  satisfied  the 
mother-in-law;  who  said:  "It  is  a  sign  that  thou  art  indeed  my 
daughter-in-law,  and  that  those  whom  thou  dost  carry  will 
be  wise";  and  shortly  after  this,  Xquiq  gave  birth  to  the  twins, 
Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque. 

The  new  comers  were  welcomed  by  all  excepting  Hunbatz 
and  Hunchouen,  who  regarded  their  half-brothers  as  rivals 
and  plotted  their  death;  but  Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque,  who 
from  birth  had  shown  their  prowess  as  magicians,  transformed 
the  two  flute-players  into  monkeys,  condemning  them  to  live 
in  the  trees.  Hunbatz  and  Hunchouen,  says  the  chronicler, 
"were  invoked  by  musicians  and  singers  aforetime,  and  also 
by  painters  and  sculptors;  but  they  were  changed  into  beasts 
and  became  monkeys  because  of  their  pride  and  their  mal- 
treatment of  their  brothers."  It  is  probable  that  the  two  were 
monkey-form  gods  of  the  arts,  though  it  is  also  possible  that 
the  transformation  is  associated  with  that  of  the  primeval  age 
which  ended  with  the  metamorphosis  of  men  into  monkeys. 

The  next  episode  in  the  career  of  the  two  youths  was  the 
clearing  of  a  field  by  means  of  magic  tools  which  felled  trees 
and  dug  the  soil  while  their  owners  amused  themselves  at  the 
chase;  but  at  night  the  animals  restored  the  vegetation.  Ac- 
cordingly the  brothers  concealed  themselves  to  watch  for  the 
undoers  of  their  work;  and  when  by  night  the  lion  (puma)  and 
the  tiger  (jaguar),  the  hare  and  the  opossum,  the  deer,  the 
coyote,  the  porcupine,  and  the  peccary,  together  with  the  birds, 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  173 

appeared  and  called  to  the  felled  trees  to  raise  themselves,  the 
brothers  attempted  to  trap  them.  They  succeeded  only  in 
seizing  the  tails  of  the  deer  and  the  rabbit  (which,  of  course, 
explains  the  present  decurtate  state  of  these  animals),  but 
finally  they  captured  the  rat,  which,  to  save  its  life,  revealed 
to  them  the  hiding-place  of  the  rings  and  gloves  and  rubber 
ball  with  which  their  fathers  had  played  tlachtli,  and  which 
their  grandmother  had  concealed  from  them  lest  they,  too, 
become  lost  through  the  fatal  lure  of  the  game.  By  a  ruse 
the  twins  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  the  apparatus, 
and  like  their  fathers  became  passionately  devoted  to  the 
sport. 

When  the  Lords  of  Xibalba  learned  of  this,  they  said:  "Who, 
then,  are  these  that  begin  again  to  play  above  our  heads,  shak- 
ing the  earth  without  fear?  Are  not  Hunhun-Ahpu  and  Vukub- 
Hunahpu  dead,  who  wished  to  exalt  themselves  before  us?" 
Forthwith  they  dispatched  a  challenge  to  the  new  champions 
which  the  twins  accepted;  but  before  they  departed  for  the 
underworld,  each  planted  a  reed  in  the  house  of  their  grand- 
mother, saying  that  if  any  ill  befell  either  of  them,  his  reed 
would  wither  and  die.  They  passed  the  underworld  rivers, 
and  coming  to  the  four  roads  (here  named  black,  white,  red,  and 
green),  they  set  out  upon  the  black  path,  though  they  took  the 
precaution  to  send  in  advance  an  animal  called  Xan,  with  in- 
structions to  prick  the  leg  of  each  lord  in  the  realm  below.  The 
first  two  throned  beings  made  no  response,  being  manikins  of 
wood;  but  the  third  uttered  a  cry,  and  his  neighbour  said: 
"What  is  it,  Hun-Came?  What  has  pricked  you  ?  "  The  same 
thing  happened  to  Vukub-Came,  Xiqiripat,  Ahalpuh,  Cuchuma- 
quiq,  Chamiabak,  Ahalcana,  Chamiaholom,  Patan,  Quiqxic, 
Quiqrixgag,  and  Quiqre  (for  such  were  the  names  of  these 
princes):  "it  is  thus  that  they  revealed  themselves,  calling 
one  another  by  name,"  each  in  turn.  When  the  hero  twins 
came,  refusing  to  salute  the  wooden  men,  they  addressed  the 
Lords  of  Xibalba  each  by  his  title,  much  to  the  chagrin  of 


174  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

these;  and,  further,  they  declined  a  place  on  the  heated  stone, 
saying,  "It  is  not  our  seat." 

In  succeeding  episodes  Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque  underwent 
the  ordeals  of  the  houses  of  the  underworld.  The  House  of 
Gloom  was  first;  but  the  twins  substituted  red  paint  for  the 
fire  on  the  torches  given  them  and  thus  preserved  these  un- 
diminished.  "Whence  indeed,  are  you  come?"  cried  the  as- 
tonished Xibalbans;  "who  are  you?"  "Who  can  say  whence 
we  are,"  they  answered;  "we  ourselves  do  not  know."  So  they 
refused  to  reveal  themselves  and  in  the  game  of  ball  which 
followed  they  altogether  defeated  the  Xibalbans;  but  since 
this  only  augmented  the  desire  of  the  latter  for  the  lives  of  the 
pair,  the  underworld  lords  demanded  of  the  two  heroes  that 
they  bring  them  four  vases  of  flowers.  Accordingly  they  sent 
the  youths  under  guard  to  the  House  of  Lances;  but  the 
brothers  overcame  the  demons  of  this  abode  by  promising  them, 
the  flesh  of  all  animals,  while  at  the  same  time  they  persuaded 
the  ants  to  bring  the  needed  flowers  from  the  gardens  of  Hun- 
Came  and  Vukub-Came.  Having  failed  with  this  test,  the 
Xibalbans  then  dispatched  their  guests  to  the  House  of  Cold, 
which  they  survived  by  kindling  pine-knots.  The  next  trial 
was  the  House  of  Tigers,  but  its  ferocious  denizens  were  diverted 
by  bones  which  the  brothers  cast  to  them.  The  House  of  Fire 
was  also  harmless  to  them;  but  in  the  sixth,  the  House  of  Bats, 
or  House  of  Camazotz,  as  its  lord  was  called,  they  met  their 
first  discomfiture.  All  night  the  heroes  lay  prone,  longing  for 
the  dawn;  but  at  last  Hunahpu  for  a  moment  raised  his  head, 
which  was  instantly  shorn  off  by  the  vigilant  Camazotz. 
Xbalanque,  in  desperation,  summoned  the  animals  to  his 
assistance;  and  the  turtle,  chancing  to  touch  the  bleeding  neck 
of  Hunahpu  and  becoming  attached  to  it,  was  transformed 
into  a  head  with  the  magic  aid  of  the  animals.  The  real  head 
the  Lords  of  Xibalba  had  suspended  in  the  ball  court,  where 
they  were  reviling  it  when  Xbalanque  and  Hunahpu,  with  his 
turtle's  head,  appeared  for  the  last  round  at  the  game;  and 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  175 

with  the  assistance  of  the  animals  Xbalanque  succeeded  in 
winning  the  victory  once  more,  and  recovering  Hunahpu's 
head,  he  restored  it  in  place  of  the  turtle's. 

Having  now  met  the  ordeals  set  by  the  Xibalbans,  the  brothers 
undertook  to  show  their  own  prowess,  and,  first  of  all,  their 
contempt  of  death.  Anticipating  the  action  of  the  Lords  of 
Xibalba  in  condemning  them  to  death,  they  sought  the  counsel 
of  two  magicians,  Xulu  and  Pacam,  with  whom  they  arranged 
for  their  resurrection;  after  which,  sentenced  to  be  burned, 
they  mounted  the  funeral  pyre  and  met  their  death,  whereat 
all  the  Xibalbans  were  filled  with  joy,  crying,  "We  have  tri- 
umphed, indeed;  and  none  too  soon!"  The  bones,  ground  to 
powder  at  the  advice  of  the  two  magicians,  were  cast  upon  the 
underworld  waters;  wherein  on  the  fifth  day  two  fish-men 
were  to  be  seen,  while  the  next  day  a  pair  of  wretched  beggars, 
poor  and  miserable,  appeared  among  the  Xibalbans.  These 
beggars,  however,  were  wonder-workers:  they  burned  houses 
and  immediately  restored  them;  they  even  sacrificed  and  then 
resuscitated  one  another.  Their  fame  soon  reached  the  ears 
of  Hun-Came  and  Vukub-Came,  and  when  the  mendicant- 
magicians  were  brought  before  these  lords,  they  were  implored 
by  the  Xibalban  kings  to  perform  their  miracles.  Thereupon 
the  beggars  began  their  "dances":  they  killed  and  revivified 
the  dog  of  the  underworld  princes;  they  burned  and  restored 
the  royal  palace;  they  sacrificed  and  brought  to  life  a  man  — 
each  deed  at  the  command  of  Hun-Came  and  Vukub-Came. 
Finally,  overcome  with  excitement,  the  Lords  of  Xibalba 
cried,  "Do  likewise  with  us;  immolate  us  also!"  "Can  death 
exist  for  you  ?  "  asked  the  beggars  ironically.  "  Nevertheless,  it  is 
your  right  that  we  amuse  you."  But  when  they  had  sacrificed 
Hun-Came  and  Vukub-Came,  they  restored  them  no  more  to 
life.  "Then  fled  all  the  princes  of  Xibalba,  seeing  their  kings 
dead,  and  their  bodies  laid  open;  but  in  a  moment  they  them- 
selves were  sacrificed,  two  by  two,  a  chastisement  which  was 
their  due."  A  single  prince  escaped,  begging  for  pity,  while  the 


176  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

host  of  their  vassals  prostrated  themselves  before  their  con- 
querors. 

Then  the  heroes  revealed  themselves,  disclosing  their  names 
and  the  names  of  their  fathers,  saying,  "We  are  the  avengers 
of  the  sufferings  of  our  sires;  harken,  now  to  your  doom,  ye 
of  Xibalba!  Since  your  fame  and  your  power  are  no  more,  and 
ye  merit  no  clemency,  your  race  shall  have  little  rule,  and  never 
again  shall  ye  play  the  Game  of  Ball.  Yours  it  shall  be  to  make 
objects  of  burnt  clay,  pots  and  pans,  and  maize-grinders;  and 
the  animals  that  live  in  the  brushwood  and  in  solitude  shall  be 
your  share.  All  the  happy,  all  the  cultivated,  shall  cease  to  be 
yours;  the  bees  alone  will  continue  to  reproduce  before  your 
eyes.  Ye,  perverse,  cruel,  sad,  wretched,  who  have  done  ill, 
now  lament  it!"  Thus  were  degraded  those  who  had  been  of 
bad  faith,  hypocritical,  tyrannical;  thus  their  power  was 
ruined. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  upper  world,  the  grandmother  of  the 
twins  watching  the  two  reeds,  had  mourned  and  rejoiced  in 
turn,  twice  seeing  them  wither  and  twice  revive.  "  The  Living 
Reeds,  the  Level  Earth,  the  Centre  of  the  House,  shall  be  the 
names  of  this  place,"  she  said.  The  twins  talked  with  the 
heads  of  their  father  and  uncle,  paying  them  funeral  honours 
and  elevating  them  to  the  sky,  the  one  to  become  the  sun,  the 
other  the  moon;  and  they  raised  up  also  the  four  hundred 
youths  buried  by  Zipacna,  to  become  stars  in  heaven,  saying: 
"Henceforth  ye  shall  be  invoked  by  civilized  peoples;  ye  shall 
be  adored;  and  your  names  shall  not  perish." 

Such,  in  its  general  character,  is  the  mythic  portion  of  the 
Popul  Vuk.  It  is  built  up  of  elements  found  far  and  wide  in 
North  America  and  it  reflects  ideas  practically  universal  among 
the  civilized  Nahuatlan  and  Mayan  tribes;  but  it  possesses 
one  great  distinction  —  that  of  presenting  these  concepts  with 
an  imaginative  intensity  unmatched  by  any  other  version,  a 
quality  which  in  some  measure  argues  that  the  whole  cycle  is 
original  with  the  Mayan  stock.  The  myth  certainly  gives  a 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  177 

broad  view  of  the  south  Mayan  pantheons;  and  most  of  the 
elements  in  the  proper  names  which  can  be  interpreted  are 
indicative  of  the  cosmic  nature  of  the  personalities.  Accord- 
ing to  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  Hun  signifies  "one,"  Vukub  is 
the  word  for  "seven";  Hunahpu  is  "One  Blowgun-Shooter," 
and  it  is  quite  likely  that  the  blowgun  was  associated  with 
celestial  phenomena,  as  the  game  of  tlachtli  certainly  is ;  Hun- 
batz  is  "One  Monkey";  Hun-Came  is  "One  Dead,"  and  so  on. 
Vukub-Cakix  ("Seven  Macaws"),  Vukub-Hunahpu  ("Seven 
One-Blowgun-Shooter"),  and  Vukub-Came  ("Seven  Dead") 
are  clearly  corresponding,  or  complementary,  cosmic  powers. 
The  Abbe  believes  that  Hurakan  (from  which  comes  our  word 
"hurricane")  and  Cabrakan  ("Earthquake")  are  deities  im- 
ported from  the  Antilles.  Camazotz  ("Ruler  of  Bats,"  — 
Brasseur;  "Death  Bat,"  —  Seler)  is  clearly  the  Elder  of  the 
Bats  —  the  bat-god  known  to  have  been  a  dread  and  potent 
deity  among  the  Maya,  and,  as  the  vampire,  feared  and 
propitiated  far  into  South  America.6  Balam  means  "tiger" 
—  that  is,  the  jaguar,  which,  perhaps  because  of  its  spots,  is 
symbol  of  the  star-studded  night  and  of  the  west.  The  four 
Quiche  ancestors  are  clearly  cosmic  deities  —  Balam-Quitze 
("Smiling  Tiger")  perhaps  of  the  east;  Balam-Agab  ("Night 
Tiger")  of  the  west;  Iqi-Balam  ("Moon Tiger");  and  Mahuca- 
tah  ("Renowned  Name,"  an  epithet,  in  the  Abbe's  opinion). 
The  Hero  Brothers  are,  of  course,  familiar  figures  everywhere 
in  American  myth. 

IV.  THE  ANNALS  OF  THE  CAKCHIQUEL7 

The  Cakchiquel  Annals  do  not,  like  the  Popul  Vuh^  form  a 
work  of  primarily  literary  or  historical  intent,  but  are,  both  in 
form  and  in  content,  part  of  a  brief,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to 
establish  certain  territorial  rights  of  members  of  the  family  of 
Xahila,  thus  falling  into  the  class  of  native  titulos,  written  in 
Spanish,  several  of  which  have  been  published.  From  its 
nature  the  composition  has  not,  therefore,  the  dramatic  char- 


178  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

acter  of  a  mythic  narrative;  nevertheless  its  very  purpose, 
as  founding  a  title  to  lands  anciently  held,  leads  to  the  effort 
to  establish  this  by  the  right  of  first  occupation,  and  hence  to 
stories  of  the  first  comers.  That  such  accounts  are  reproduced 
more  or  less  exactly  from  mythic  narratives  there  can  be  no 
manner  of  doubt,  internal  traits  showing  near  affinity  with 
the  tales  of  the  Popul  Vuk  and  kindred  cycles. 

The  narrative  begins  with  a  record  of  "the  sayings  of  our 
earliest  fathers  and  ancestors,  Gagavitz  the  name  of  one, 
Zactecauh  the  name  of  the  other  ...  as  we  came  from  the 
other  side  of  the  sea,  from  the  land  of  Tulan,  where  we  were 
brought  forth  and  begotten  .  .  . 

"These  are  the  very  words  which  Gagavitz  and  Zactecauh 
spake : '  Four  men  came  from  Tulan ;  one  Tulan  is  at  the  sunrise, 
and  one  is  at  Xibalbay,  and  one  is  at  the  sunset;  and  we  came 
from  this  one  at  the  sunset;  and  one  is  where  is  God.  There- 
fore there  are  four  Tulans,  they  say,  0  our  sons;  from  the  sun- 
set we  came;  from  Tulan  from  beyond  the  sea;  and  it  was  at 
Tulan  that,  arriving,  we  were  brought  forth;  coming,  we  were 
produced,  as  they  say,  by  our  fathers  and  our  mothers. 

"'And  now  the  Obsidian  Stone  is  brought  forth  by  the  pre- 
cious Xibalbay,  the  glorious  Xibalbay;  and  man  is  made  by 
the  Maker,  the  Creator.  The  Obsidian  Stone  was  his  sustainer 
when  man  was  made  in  misery  and  when  man  was  formed;  he 
was  fed  with  wood,  he  was  fed  with  leaves;  he  wished  only  the 
earth;  he  could  not  speak,  he  could  not  walk;  he  had  no 
blood,  he  had  no  flesh;  so  say  our  fathers,  our  ancestors,  O  ye 
my  sons.  Nothing  was  found  to  feed  him;  at  length  something 
was  found  to  feed  him.  Two  brutes  knew  that  there  was 
food  in  the  place  called  Paxil,  where  these  creatures  were,  the 
Coyote  and  the  Crow  by  name.  Even  in  the  refuse  of  maize 
it  was  found  when  the  creature  Coyote  was  killed  as  he  was 
separating  his  maize  and  was  searching  for  bread  to  knead, 
killed  by  the  creature  named  Tiuh  Tiuh;  and  from  within  the 
sea,  by  means  of  Tiuh  Tiuh,  was  brought  the  blood  of  the  ser- 


PLATE  XXV 

Monumental  stela,  Piedras  Negras.  This  superb 
relief  shows  a  divinity  with  quetzal-plume  crest  to 
whom  a  priest  is  presenting  the  group  of  bound  cap- 
tives, shown  at  the  base.  After  photograph  in  the 
Peabody  Museum. 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  179 

pent  and  of  the  tapir  with  which  the  maize  was  to  be  kneaded; 
the  flesh  of  man  was  formed  of  it  by  the  Maker,  the  Creator; 
and  well  did  they,  the  Maker  and  the  Creator,  know  him  who 
was  born,  him  who  was  begotten;  they  made  man  as  he  was 
made,  they  formed  man  as  they  made  him;  so  they  tell.  There 
were  thirteen  men,  fourteen  women;  they  talked,  they  walked; 
they  had  blood,  they  had  flesh.  They  married,  and  one  had 
two  wives.  They  brought  forth  daughters,  they  brought  forth 
sons,  those  first  men.  Thus  men  were  made,  and  thus  the  Obsi- 
dian Stone  was  made,  for  the  enclosure  of  Tulan;  thus  we  came 
to  where  the  Zotzils  were  at  the  gates  of  Tulan;  arriving,  we 
were  born;  coming,  we  were  produced;  coming,  we  gave  the 
tribute  in  the  darkness,  in  the  night,  O  our  sons.'  Thus  spake 
Gagavitz  and  Zactecauh,  O  my  sons;  and  what  they  said  hath 
not  been  forgotten.  They  are  our  great  ancestors;  these  are 
the  words  with  which  they  encouraged  us  of  old." 

These  extracts  indicate  the  style  of  the  Annals,  full  of  rep- 
etition and  almost  without  relational  expressions,  but  now 
and  again  lighted  with  passages  of  extraordinary  vividness. 
The  Obsidian  Stone,  Chay  Abah,  represented  an  important 
civic  fetish  or  oracular  talisman,  if  we  may  credit  the  descrip- 
tion of  Iximche,  the  Cakchiquel  capital,  transmitted  by  Fuentes 
y  Guzman  and  quoted  by  Brinton.8  On  the  summit  of  a  small 
hill  overlooking  the  town  —  so  goes  the  account  —  "is  a 
circular  wall,  not  unlike  the  curb  of  a  well,  about  a  full  fathom 
in  height.  The  floor  within  is  paved  with  cement,  as  the  city 
streets.  In  the  centre  is  placed  a  socle  or  pedestal  of  a  glittering 
substance,  like  glass,  but  of  what  composition  is  not  known. 
This  circular  structure  was  the  tribunal  or  consistory  of  the 
Cakchiquel  Indians,  where  not  only  was  public  hearing  given 
to  causes,  but  also  the  sentences  were  carried  out.  Seated 
around  this  wall,  the  judges  heard  the  pleas  and  pronounced 
the  sentences,  in  both  civil  and  criminal  cases.  After  this 
public  decision,  however,  there  remained  an  appeal  for  its 
revocation  or  confirmation.  Three  messengers  were  chosen 


i8o  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

as  deputies  of  the  judges,  and  these  went  forth  from  the  tri- 
bunal to  a  deep  ravine,  north  of  the  palace,  to  a  small  but 
neatly  fitted-up  chapel  or  temple,  where  was  located  the  oracle 
of  the  demon.  This  was  a  black  and  semi-transparent  stone, 
of  a  finer  grade  than  that  called  chay  (obsidian).  In  its  trans- 
parency, the  demon  revealed  to  them  what  should  be  their 
final  decision."  This  passage  is  not  the  only  indication  of  the 
employment  of  divination  by  crystal  gazing  in  primitive 
America;  and  it  is  even  possible  that  the  translucent  green 
stones  so  widely  valued  were  primarily  sacred  because  of 
divinatory  properties.  Not  all  sacred  stones  were  of  the  emerald 
hue,  however;  for  in  the  Cakchiquel  narrative  one  of  the  deeds 
of  Gagavitz  is  the  ascent  of  a  volcano  where,  it  is  said,  he  con- 
quered the  fire,  bringing  it  captive  in  the  form  of  a  stone  called 
Gak  Chog,  which,  the  chronicler  is  at  pains  to  state,  is  not  a 
green  stone. 

The  mythic  affinities  of  the  Cakchiquel  narrative  are  already 
apparent  in  the  passages  quoted.  The  city  of  Tulan  (frequently 
"Tullan"  in  the  text)  is  clearly  become  a  name  for  certain 
cosmic  stations,  namely  the  houses  of  sunrise,  sunset,  zenith 
("where  is  God"),  and  nadir  (Tulan  of  Xibalbay,  the  under- 
world). The  successive  creations  of  men,  experimental  men 
first,  and  finally  maize-formed  men,  is  certainly  the  same'  myth 
as  that  of  the  Popul  Vuh^  which  is  briefly  described  also  by  Las 
Casas  and  which  is  probably  intimately  associated  with  a  cult 
of  the  maize-gods.  "If  one  looks  closely  at  these  Indians," 
says  an  early  writer  quoted  by  Brinton,9  (manuscript  known  as 
the  Cronica  Franciscana),  "he  will  find  that  everything  they  do 
and  say  has  something  to  do  with  maize.  A  little  more,  and 
they  would  make  a  god  of  it.  There  is  so  much  conjuring  and 
fussing  about  their  corn  fields,  that  for  them  they  will  forget 
wives  and  children  and  any  other  pleasure,  as  if  the  only  end 
and  aim  of  life  was  to  secure  a  crop  of  corn." 

There  are  numerous  mythic  incidents  in  the  continuation 
of  the  narrative  after  the  creation.  At  Tulan  the  peoples  were 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  181 

divided  into  seven  tribes,  and  it  was  from  Tulan  that,  with 
idols  of  wood  and  of  stone,  they  set  out  at  the  oracular  com- 
mand of  the  Obsidian  Stone.  The  auguries  were  mostly  evil: 
"A  bird  called  'the  guard  of  the  ravine'  began  to  complain 
within  the  gate  of  Tulan,  as  we  were  going  forth  from  Tulan. 
'Ye  shall  die,  ye  shall  be  lost,  I  am  your  portent,' the  creature 
said  to  us.  'Do  ye  not  believe  me?  Truly  your  state  shall  be 
a  sad  one.' ':  The  owl  prophesied  similar  disaster,  and  another 
bird,  the  parroquet,  "complained  in  the  sky  and  said,  'I  am 
your  portent;  ye  shall  die.'  But  we  said  to  the  creature,  'Speak 
not  thus;  thou  art  but  the  sign  of  spring.  Thou  wailest  first 
when  it  is  spring;  when  the  rain  ceaseth,  thou  wailest."1  They 
arrived  at  the  sea-coast,  and  there  a  great  number  perished  while 
they  awaited  a  means  of  crossing,  which  finally  came  when  "a 
red  tree,  our  staff,  which  we  had  taken  in  passing  from  the  gate 
of  Tulan,"  was  thrust  into  the  sands,  whereupon  the  waters 
divided,  and  all  passed  over.  Then  it  was  that  Gagavitz  and 
Zactecauh  were  elected  leaders;  and  next  they  fought  with 
the  people  of  Nonoualcat  and  Zuyva,  but  though  at  first  suc- 
cessful in  the  fight,  they  were  eventually  defeated:  "Truly,  it 
was  fearful  there  among  the  houses;  truly,  the  noise  was  great, 
the  dust  was  oppressive;  fighting  was  going  on  in  the  houses, 
fighting  with  the  dogs,  the  wasps,  fighting  with  all.  One  attack, 
two  attacks  we  made,  and  we  ourselves  were  routed;  as  truly 
as  they  were  in  the  air,  they  were  in  the  earth;  they  ascended 
and  they  descended,  everywhere  against  us;  and  thus  they 
showed  their  magic  and  their  sorcery."  After  this  defeat,  the 
various  tribes  received  the  gods  which  were  to  be  their  pro- 
tectors. "When  we  asked  each  other  where  our  salvation  was, 
it  was  said  to  us  by  the  Quiche  men:  'As  it  thundered  and  re- 
sounded in  the  sky,  truly  the  sky  must  be  our  salvation';  so 
they  said,  and  therefore  the  name  Tohohil  was  given  them." 
The  Zotzil  received  Cakix,  the  macaw,  as  their  deity;  and  the 
Cakchiquel  said:  '"Truly,  in  the  middle  of  the  valley  lieth  our 
salvation,  entering  there  into  the  earth.'  Therefore  the  name 


1 82  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Chitagah  was  given.  Another,  who  said  salvation  was  in  the 
water,  was  called  Gucumatz";  and  so  on,  down  the  roll.  The 
tribes  then  set  forth  and  encounter  "the  spirit  of  the  forest, 
the  fire  called  Zakiqoxol,"  who  kills  many  men.  "Who  are 
these  boys  whom  we  see?"  says  the  spirit  (who,  it  seems,  is  a 
giant) ;  and  Gagavitz  and  Zactecauh  replied :  "  Let  us  see  what 
kind  of  a  hideous  mole  thou  art?  Who  art  thou?  We  shall  kill 
thee.  Why  is  it  that  thou  guardest  the  road  here?"  "Do  not 
kill  me;  I,  who  am  here,  I  am  the  heart  of  the  forest,"  and  he 
asked  for  clothing.  "They  shall  give  to  thee  wherewith  to 
clothe  thyself,"  they  answered;  and  "then  they  gave  him 
wherewith  to  clothe  himself,  a  change  of  garment,  his  blood-red 
cuirass,  his  blood-red  shoes,  the  dying  raiment  of  Zakiqoxol." 

The  narrative  continues  with  episodes  that  may  be  historical. 
There  are  encounters,  friendly  and  militant,  with  various 
tribes;  Zactecauh  is  killed  by  falling  down  a  ravine;  the  wan- 
derers are  delayed  a  year  by  the  volcano  which  Gagavitz  con- 
quers; a  certain  being  named  Tolgom,  son  of  "the  Mud  that 
Quivers,"  is  captured  and  offered  by  the  arrow  sacrifice,  this 
being  the  beginning  of  an  annual  festival  at  which  children 
were  similarly  slain;  and  afterward  the  people  come  to  the 
place  where  their  dawn  is  to  be  and  there  they  behold  the  sun- 
rise. The  warriors  took  wives  from  neighbouring  tribes  and 
"  then  also  they  began  to  adore  the  Demon.  ...  It  is  said  that 
the  worship  of  the  Demon  increased  with  the  face  of  our 
prosperity."  To  Gagavitz  were  born  two  sons,  Caynoh  and 
Caybatz,  who  were  to  be  his  successors;  and  "at  that  time 
King  Gagavitz  died,  the  same  who  came  from  Tulan;  his 
children,  our  ancestors,  Caynoh  and  Caybatz,  were  still  very 
young  when  their  father  died.  They  buried  him  in  the  same 
place  where  their  dawn  appeared,  in  Paroxene." 

Here  the  mythical  part  of  the  Annals  ends.  Caynoh  and 
Caybatz  may  be  a  pair  of  heroes  like  Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque, 
as  some  authorities  deem;  but  the  situation  in  which  they  are 
presented,  subjects  of  a  Quiche  King,  Tepeuh,  indicates  an 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  183 

historical  situation,  finally  reversed,  as  the  narrative  later 
shows,  in  sanguinary  wars  in  which  the  Cakchiquel  threw  off  the 
Quiche  yoke.  And  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  New  World,  the 
coming  Spaniard  was  enabled  to  profit  by  local  dissensions; 
for  Alvarado,  whose  entrance  into  Iximche  is  described  as  by  an 
eyewitness,  first  allied  himself  with  the  Cakchiquel  for  the 
destruction  of  their  neighbours  and  then  destroyed  his  allies 
for  the  sake  of  their  gold.  So  out  of  this  broken  past  speaks  the 
Xahila  narrative  —  the  one  native  voice  from  a  lost  civili- 
zation. 

V.    HONDURAS  AND  NICARAGUA10 

South  of  the  Mayan  peoples,  in  the  territories  formed  by  the 
projection  of  Central  America  between  the  Gulf  of  Honduras 
and  Lake  Nicaragua,  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  were  repre- 
sented by  some  ten  linguistic  stocks.  On  the  western  coast  were 
several  groups  of  Nahuatlan  tribes  who  had  come  from  far  in 
the  north,  probably  in  recent  times;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
large  Ulvan  stock,  back  from  the  Mosquito  Coast,  are  regarded 
as  probably  of  Chibchan  kinship,  and  their  territories  were 
contiguous  with  the  Chibchans  of  Costa  Rica,  who  brought 
the  influence  of  the  southern  continent  as  far  northward  as 
the  southern  shores  of  the  lake;  the  remaining  tribal  groups  — 
Lencan,  Subtiaban,  Payan,  Mosquitoan,  Chiapanecan,  etc.  — 
have  no  certain  linguistic  affinity  with  any  other  peoples. 
Culturally,  the  whole  region  was  aboriginally  marked  by  an 
obvious  inferiority  both  to  the  Mayan  peoples  to  the  north  and 
the  Chibchan  to  the  south;  though  at  the  same  time  it  reflected 
something  of  the  civilization  of  each  of  these  regions.  As  a 
whole,  however,  it  possessed  no  single  level,  but  ranged  from 
the  primitive  savagery  of  the  Mosquito  Coast  to  something 
approaching  a  native  culture  in  the  western  highlands. 

The  mythic  lore  of  these  peoples  (not  extensively  reported) 
is  in  no  way  remarkable.  The  Nahuatlan  tribes — Pipil  and 
Niquiran  —  worshipped  gods  whose  kinship  with  those  of  the 


184  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Aztec  is  apparent.  Of  thePipil,  Brasseur  says  n:  "They  adored 
the  rising  sun,  as  also  statues  of  Quetzalcohuatl  and  Itz- 
cueye,  to  whom  they  offered  almost  all  their  sacrifices,"  Itzcueye 
being  a  form  of  the  earth  goddess.  Similarly  the  Niquiran 
deities  mentioned  by  Oviedo,  especially  the  creator  pair, 
Tamagostad  and  Cipattonal,  are  identified  with  Oxomoco  and 
Cipactonal  of  the  Mexicans;  while  the  calendar  of  the  same 
tribe  is  Mexican  in  type.  The  chief  centre  of  worship  of  the 
Pipil  was  named  Mictlan,  but  the  myth  which  Brasseur  nar- 
rates in  connexion  with  the  establishment  of  this  shrine  is 
curiously  analogous  to  certain  Chibcha  tales.  The  sacred  city 
was  on  a  promontory  in  Lake  Huixa,  and  "it  was  there  that 
one  day  a  venerable  old  man  was  beheld  to  advance,  followed 
by  a  girl  of  unequalled  beauty,  both  clad  in  long  blue  robes, 
while  the  man  was  crowned  with  a  pontifical  mitre.  They 
arose  together  from  the  lake,  but  they  did  not  delay  to  sep- 
arate; and  the  old  man  seated  himself  upon  a  stone  on  the  sum- 
mit of  a  high  hill,  where,  by  his  order,  was  reared  a  beauti- 
ful temple  called  Mictlan."  Similar  cults  of  lake-spirits  are 
indicated  on  the  island  of  Zapatero,  in  Lake  Nicaragua,  where 
Squier  discovered  a  whole  series  of  remarkable  idols,  pillars 
surmounted  by  crudely  carved  crouching  or  seated  figures, 
while  statues  of  a  similar  type  were  found  on  another  island, 
Pensacola.  In  several  of  these  the  human  figure  is  hooded  by 
an  animal's  head  or  jaw,  or  appears  within  the  mouth  of  the 
monster  —  a  motive  which  probably  comes  from  the  Mayan 
north. 

The  Chiapanecan  people  north  of  the  Niquirian  Nahua  con- 
sulted an  oracular  Old  Woman,  who  appears,  as  Oviedo  relates 
the  story,12  to  have  been  the  spirit  of  the  volcano  Masaya. 
The  caciques  went  in  secret  to  consult  her  before  undertaking 
any  enterprise  and  sacrificed  to  her  human  victims,  who,  says 
Oviedo,  offered  themselves  voluntarily.  When  Oviedo  asked 
how  the  Old  Woman  looked,  they  replied  that  "she  was  old 
and  wrinkled,  with  pendant  breasts,  thin,  dishevelled  hair, 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  185. 

long  teeth  like  those  of  a  dog,  a  skin  darker  than  that  of  the 
Indians,  and  glowing  eyes,"  a  description  which  scarcely  makes 
the  voluntary  sacrifice  plausible.  With  the  coming  of  the 
Christians  her  appearances  were  more  and  more  rare. 

Of  such  character  were  the  ideas  of  the  more  advanced  tribes 
of  the  western  coast.  The  Sumo  (of  the  Ulvan  stock)  tell  a  tale 
of  their  origin,  reported  by  Lehmann13:  "Between  the  Rio 
Patuca  and  the  Rio  Coco  is  a  hill  named  Kaun'apa,  where  is  a 
rock  with  the  sign  of  a  human  umbilical  cord.  There  in  olden 
time  the  Indians  were  born;  there  is  the  source  of  the  people. 
A  great  Father,  Maisahana,  and  a  great  Mother,  Ituana,  like- 
wise existed,  the  latter  being  the  same  as  Itoki,  whom  the 
Mosquito  know  as  Mother  Scorpion.  First,  the  Mosquito  were 
born  and  instructed  in  all  things;  but  they  were  disobedient  to 
their  elders  (as  they  still  are)  and  departed  toward  the  coast. 
Thereafter  the  Tuachca  were  born,  and  then  the  Yusco  who  live 
on  Rio  Prinzapolca  and  Bambana;  but  since  the  Yusco  were  bad 
and  lewd,  the  rest  of  the  Sumo  fought  against  them  and  killed 
all  but  a  few,  who  live  somewhere  around  the  source  of  Rio 
Coco,  near  the  Spaniards.  Last  the  Ulua  were  born,  who  are 
indeed  the  youngest;  and  they  were  instructed  in  all  things, 
especially  medicine  and  song,  wherefore  they  are  known  as 
'Singers.'" 

vThe  Mother  Scorpion  of  this  myth  is  regarded  by  the  Mos- 
quito as  dwelling  at  the  end  of  the  Milky  Way,  where  she  re- 
ceives the  souls  of  the  dead;  and  from  her,  represented  as  a 
mother  with  many  breasts,  at  which  children  take  suck,  come 
the  souls  of  the  new-born  —  a  belief  which  points  to  a  notion 
of  reincarnation.  The  Mosquito  14  possess  also  a  migration- 
myth,  with  stories  of  a  culture  hero  named  Wakna,  and  an 
ancient  prophecy  that  they  shall  never  be  driven  back  from  the 
coasts  to  which  he  led  them.  Along  with  this  are  reminiscences 
of  the  coming  of  cannibals  —  doubtless  Carib  —  from  overseas ; 
and  the  usual  quota  of  superstitions  as  to  monsters  of  forest 
and  waters.  They  are  said,  moreover,  to  have  vague  notions 


1 86 


LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 


of  a  supreme  or  superior  god  —  which  is  altogether  likely  —  and, 
in  general,  these  Central  American  religions  are,  doubtless,  as 
the  early  writers  describe  them,  formed  of  an  ill-defined  belief 
in  a  Heaven  Father,  with  deities  of  sun  and  stars  as  objects  of 
worship,  and  spirits  of  earth  and  forest  as  objects  of  dread. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  ANDEAN  NORTH 

I.    THE   CULTURED  PEOPLES  OF  THE  ANDES1 

FROM  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  the  western  coast  of  South 
America  is  marked  by  one  of  the  loftiest  and  most  abrupt 
mountain  ranges  of  the  world,  culminating  in  the  great  vol- 
canoes of  Ecuador  and  the  high  peaks  of  western  Argentina. 
A  narrow  coastal  strip,  dry  and  torrid  in  tropical  latitudes; 
deep  and  narrow  valleys;  occasional  plateaux  or  intramon- 
tane  plains,  especially  the  great  plateau  of  central  Bolivia — 
these  are  the  primary  diversifications  from  the  high  ranges 
which,  rising  precipitously  on  the  Pacific  side,  decline  more 
gradually  toward  the  east  into  the  vast  forested  regions  of  the 
central  part  of  the  continent  and  into  the  plains  and  pam- 
pas of  the  south. 

Throughout  this  mountain  region,  from  the  plateau  of 
Bogota  in  the  north  to  the  neighbourhood  of  latitude  30°  south, 
was  continued  in  pre-Columbian  times  the  succession  of  groups 
of  civilized  or  semi-civilized  peoples  of  which  the  most  northerly 
were  the  Nahua  of  Mexico,  or  perhaps  the  Pueblo  tribes  of  New 
Mexico.  The  ethnic  boundary  of  the  southern  continent  is  to 
be  drawn  in  Central  America.  The  Guetare  of  Costa  Rica,  and 
perhaps  the  Sumo  of  Nicaragua,  constitute  northerly  outposts 
of  the  territorially  great  Chibchan  culture,  the  centre  of  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  plateau  of  Bogota,  while  its  southerly  ex- 
tension leads  to  the  Barbacoa  of  northern  Ecuador.  South  of 
the  Chibcha,  in  the  Andean  region  lying  between  the  Equator 
and  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn,  is  the  aboriginal  home  of  the 
Quechua-Aymara  peoples,  nearly  the  whole  of  which,  at  the 


1 88  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

time  of  the  Conquest  was  embraced  in  the  Empire  of  the  Incas. 
This  empire  had  even  reached  into  the  confines  of  the  third 
culture  area  of  the  southern  continent;  for  the  Calchaqui  of  the 
mountains  of  northern  Argentina,  who  were  the  most  repre- 
sentative and  probably  the  most  advanced  nation  of  the 
Diaguite  group,  had  even  then  passed  under  Inca  subjection. 
Other  tribes  of  this  most  southerly  of  the  civilized  peoples  of 
America  had  never  been  conquered;  but  bounded,  as  they  were, 
by  the  aggressive  empire  of  the  north,  by  the  warlike  Arau- 
canians  to  the  south,  and  by  the  savages  of  the  Gran  Chaco 
to  the  east,  their  opportunities  for  independent  development 
were  slight;  indeed,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  peoples  of 
this  group  represent  the  last  stand  of  a  race  that  had  once  ex- 
tended far  to  the  north  and  had  played  an  important  part  in 
the  pre-Inca  cultures  of  the  central  Andes.  Beyond  the  Dia- 
guite lay  the  domains  of  savagery,  although  the  Araucanians 
of  the  Chilean-Argentine  region  were  not  uninfluenced  by  the 
northward  civilizations  and  in  most  respects  were  superior 
to  the  wild  tribes  that  inhabited  the  great  body  of  the  South 
American  continent;  but  the  indomitable  love  of  liberty,  which 
has  kept  them  unconquered  through  many  wars,  gave  to  their 
territory  a  boundary-line  marked  no  less  by  a  sharp  descent  in 
culture  than  by  its  untouched  independence. 

In  Columbian  times  these  three  Andean  groups  —  the 
Chibchan  tribes,  the  Quechua-Aymara,  and  the  Diaguite- 
Calchaqui  —  possessed  a  civilization  marked  by  considerable 
advancement  in  the  arts  of  metallurgy  (gold,  silver,  copper), 
pottery,  and  weaving,  by  agriculture  (fundamentally,  culti- 
vation of  maize),  and  by  domestication  of  the  llama  and  al- 
paca. In  the  art  of  building,  in  stone-work,  and,  generally, 
in  that  plastic  and  pictorial  expression  which  is  a  sign  of  in- 
tellectual advancement,  the  central  group  far  excelled  its 
neighbours.  Nor  was  this  due  to  the  fact  that  it  alone,  under 
Inca  domination,  had  reached  the  stage  of  stable  and  diversi- 
fied social  organization;  for  the  archaeology  of  Peru  and 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  189 

Bolivia  shows  that  the  Empire  of  the  Incas  was  only  the  last  in 
a  series  of  central  Andean  civilizations  which  it  excelled,  if  at 
all,  in  political  power  rather  than  in  the  arts,  industrial  or 
aesthetic. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  religious  and  mythic  ideas  of  these 
various  groups  reflects  their  relative  importance  at  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  conquests  more  than  their  natural  diversity. 
Of  the  Chibchan  groups,  only  the  ideas  of  a  few  tribes  have 
been  described,  and  these  fragmentarily;  of  the  mythology  of 
the  Calchaqui,  who  had  yielded  to  Inca  rule,  even  less  has 
come  down  to  us;  while  what  is  known  of  the  religious  concep- 
tions of  the  pre-Inca  peoples  of  the  central  region  is  mainly  in 
the  form  of  gleanings  from  the  works  of  art  left  by  these  peoples, 
or  from  such  of  their  cults  as  survived  under  the  Inca  state  or 
in  Inca  tradition.  Inevitably  the  central  body  of  Andean  myth, 
as  transmitted  to  us,  is  that  of  the  Incas,  who,  having  reached 
the  position  of  a  great  imperial  clan,  naturally  glorified  both 
their  own  gods  and  their  own  legendary  history. 

II.    THE   ISTHMIANS2 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama  (and  northward  perhaps  as  far  as 
the  confines  of  Nicaragua)  was  aboriginally  an  outpost  of  the 
great  Chibchan  stock.  Tribes  of  other  stocks,  some  certainly 
northern  in  origin,  dwelt  within  the  region,  but  the  predominant 
group  was  akin  to  the  peoples  of  the  neighbouring  southern  con- 
tinent; although  whether  they  were  immigrants  from  the  south 
or  were  parents  of  the  southern  stem  can  scarcely  be  known. 
So  far  as  traditions  tell,  the  uniform  account  given  by  the 
Bolivian  tribes  is  of  a  northerly  origin.  The  tales  seem  to 
point  to  the  Venezuelan  coast,  and  perhaps  remotely  to  the 
Antilles,  rather  than  to  the  Isthmus,  and  it  is  certain  that  there 
are  broad  similarities  in  culture  —  especially  in  the  forms  and 
use  of  ceremonial  objects  —  pointing  to  the  remote  unity  of 
the  whole  region  from  Haiti  to  Ecuador,  and  from  Venezuela  to 


190  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Nicaragua.  It  is  entirely  possible  that  within  this  region  the 
drift  of  influence  has  been  southerly;  though  it  is  more  likely 
that  counter-streams,  northward  and  southward,  must  give 
the  full  explanation  of  the  civilization. 

On  the  linguistic  side  it  is  agreed  that  the  Guetare  of  Costa 
Rica  represent  a  branch  of  the  Chibchan  stock,  while  neigh- 
bouring tribes  of  the  same  stock  are  either  now  extinct  or  little 
known.  The  Spanish  conquests  in  the  Isthmian  region  were 
as  ruthlessly  complete  as  anywhere  in  America,  and  for  the 
greater  part  our  knowledge  of  the  aborigines  is  the  fruit  of 
archaeology.  In  the  writings  of  Oviedo  and  Cieza  de  Leon 
some  facts  may  be  gleaned  —  enough,  indeed,  to  picture  the 
general  character  of  the  rituals  of  the  Indian  tribes  —  but  there 
is  no  competent  contemporary  relation  of  the  native  religion 
and  beliefs. 

Oviedo's  description  3  of  the  tribes  about  the  Gulf  of  Nicoya, 
where  the  civilizations  of  the  two  Americas  meet,  indicates  a 
religion  in  which  the  great  rites  were  human  sacrifices  of  the 
Mexican  type  and  feasts  of  intoxication.  Archaeological  re- 
searches in  the  same  region  have  brought  to  light  amulets  and 
ornaments,  some  anthropomorphic  in  character,  but  many 
representing  animal  forms,  usually  highly  conventionalized  — 
alligators,  jaguars  and  pumas,  frogs,  parrots,  vampires,  denizens 
of  earth,  air,  and  sea,  all  indicative  of  a  populous  pantheon  of 
talismanic  powers;  while  cruciform,  swastika,  and  other  sym- 
bolic ornamentation  implies  a  development  in  the  direction  of 
abstraction  sustained  by  Oviedo's  mention  of  "folded  books  of 
deerskin  parchment,"  which  are  probably  the  southern  exten- 
sion of  the  art  of  writing  as  known  in  the  northern  civilization. 
The  archaeology  of  the  Guetare  region,  in  central,  and  of  the 
Chiriqui  region,  in  southern  Costa  Rica,  disclose  the  same 
fantasy  of  grotesque  and  conventionalized  animals  —  saurians, 
armadilloes,  the  cat-tribe,  composites  —  indicative  of  a  simi- 
larly zoomorphic  pantheon.  Benzoni,  speaking  of  the  tribes 
of  this  region,  states  that  they  worshipped  idols  in  the  forms 


PLATE  XXVI 

Jade  pendant  representing  a  Vampire.  After 
Hartman,  Archaeological  Researches  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  of  Costa  Rica,  Plate  XLIV.  For  reference  to 
the  significance  of  the  bat,  as  a  deity,  see  page  177 
and  page  364,  note  6. 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  191 

of  animals,  which  they  kept  hidden  in  caves;  while  Andagoya 
declares  that  the  priests  of  the  Cuna  or  Cueva  (dwelling  at  the 
juncture  of  the  Isthmus  and  the  southern  continent)  communed 
with  the  devil  and  that  Chipiripa,  a  rain-god,  was  one  of  their 
most  important  deities;  they  are  said,  too,  to  have  known  of 
the  deluge.  Of  the  neighbouring  Indians,  about  Uraba,  Cieza 
de  Leon  gives  us  to  know  that  "they  certainly  talk  with  the 
devil  and  do  him  all  the  honour  they  can.  .  .  .  He  appears 
to  them  (as  I  have  been  told  by  one  of  themselves)  in  frightful 
and  terrible  visions,  which  cause  them  much  alarm."  Further- 
more, "the  devil  gives  them  to  understand  that,  in  the  place 
to  which  they  go  [after  death],  they  will  come  to  life  in  another 
kingdom  which  he  has  prepared  for  them,  and  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  take  food  with  them  for  the  journey.  As  if  hell  was  so 
very  far  off!" 

Peter  Martyr  devotes  the  greater  part  of  a  book  (the  tenth  of 
the  Seventh  Decade)4  to  a  description  of  the  rites  and  beliefs  of 
the  Indians  of  the  region  where  the  Isthmus  joins  the  continent. 
Dabaiba,  he  says,  was  the  name  both  of  a  river  and  of  a  divinity 
whose  sanctuary  was  about  forty  leagues  from  Darien;  and 
thither  at  certain  seasons  the  caciques,  even  of  the  most  dis- 
tant countries,  sent  slaves  to  be  strangled  and  burnt  before  the 
idol.  "When  the  Spaniards  asked  them  to  what  divinity  they 
addressed  their  prayers,  they  responded  that  it  is  to  the  god 
who  created  the  heavens,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  all  existing 
things;  and  from  whom  every  good  thing  proceeds.  They  be- 
lieve that  Dabaiba,  the  divinity  universally  venerated  in  the 
country,  is  the  mother  of  this  creator."  Their  traditions  told 
of  a  great  drought  which,  making  the  rivers  dry,  caused  the 
greater  part  of  mankind  to  perish  of  thirst,  while  the  survivors 
emigrated  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea-coast;  for  this  reason 
they  maintained  priests  and  addressed  prayers  to  their  divinity, 
who  would  seem  to  be  a  rain-goddess.  Another  legend  recorded 
by  Peter  Martyr  tells  of  a  frightful  tempest  which  brought  with 
it  two  great  birds,  "similar  to  the  harpies  of  the  Strophades," 


192  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

having  "the  face,  chin,  mouth,  nose,  teeth,  eyes,  brows,  and 
physiognomy  of  a  virgin."  One  of  these  seized  the  people 
and  carried  them  off  to  the  mountains  to  devour  them,  where- 
fore, to  slay  the  man-eating  bird,  certain  heroes  carved  a  human 
figure  on  the  end  of  a  log,  which  they  set  in  the  ground  so  that 
the  figure  alone  was  visible.  The  hunters  concealed  themselves 
near  by,  and  when  the  monster,  mistaking  the  image  for  prey, 
sunk  its  talons  into  the  wood,  falling  upon  it,  they  slew  it 
before  it  could  release  itself.  "Those  who  killed  the  monster 
were  honoured  as  gods."  Interesting,  too,  is  Martyr's  account 
of  the  reason  given  for  the  sinfulness  of  incest:  the  dark  spots 
on  the  moon  represent  a  man  cast  into  that  damp  and  freezing 
planet  to  suffer  perpetual  cold  in  expiation  of  incest  committed 
with  his  sister  —  the  very  myth  that  is  told  in  North  Green- 
land; and  the  belief  that  "only  nobles  have  immortal  souls"  (or, 
more  likely,  that  they  alone  enjoy  a  paradise)  is  cited  to  explain 
why  numbers  of  servants  gladly  throw  themselves  into  the 
graves  of  their  masters,  since  thus  they  gain  the  right  to  accom- 
pany their  lords  into  the  afterworld  of  pleasure;  all  others, 
apparently,  go  down  to  a  gloomy  hades,  though  there  may  be 
truth  in  Martyr's  statement  that  it  is  pollution  which  brings 
this  fate. 

The  account  of  the  religion  of  the  Isthmian  tribes  in  later 
times,  by  W.  M.  Gabb  andPittier  de  Fabrega,5  probably  repre- 
sents faithfully  their  earlier  beliefs.  There  are  deities  who  are 
the  protectors  of  game-animals,  suggesting  the  Elders  of  the 
Kinds  so  characteristic  of  North  American  lore;  though  they 
appear  to  men  in  human  form,  taking  vengeance  on  those  who 
only  wound  in  the  chase:  "When  thou  shootest,  do  it  to  kill, 
so  that  the  poor  beast  doth  not  fall  a  prey  to  the  worms," 
is  the  command  of  the  King  of  the  Tapirs  to  the  unlucky  hunter 
who  is  punished  for  his  faulty  work  by  being  stricken  with 
dumbness  during  the  period  in  which  a  cane  grows  from  a 
sprout  to  its  full  height.  The  Isthmian  peoples  recognize  (as  do 
most  other  Americans)  a  faineant  supreme  being,  Sibu,  in  the 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  193 

world  above,  with  a  host  of  lesser,  but  dangerous,  powers  in 
the  realm  of  environing  nature;  and  there  is  a  paradise,  at 
least  for  the  noble  dead,  situated  at  the  zenith,  though  the  way 
thither  is  beset  by  perils,  monsters,  and  precipices.  Las  Casas 
also  mentions  the  belief  in  a  supreme  deity,  Chicuna,  Lord  of 
All  Things,  as  extending  from  Darien  to  Nicaragua;  and  he 
says  that  along  with  this  god  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  and  the 
Morning  Star  were  worshipped,  as  well  as  divinities  of  wood 
and  stone  which  presided  over  the  elements  and  the  sowings 
(sementeras). 

The  allusion  to  deities  of  the  sementeras  is  interesting  in 
connexion  with  the  Bribri  and  Brunka  (or  Boruca)  myths, 
published  by  Pittier  de  Fabrega.  According  to  these  tribes  of 
Indians,  men  and  animal  kinds  were  originally  born  of  seeds 
kept  in  baskets  which  Sibu  entrusted  to  the  lesser  gods;  but 
the  evil  powers  were  constantly  hunting  for  these  seeds,  en- 
deavouring to  destroy  them.  One  tale  relates  that  after  Sura, 
the  good  deity  to  whom  the  seed  had  been  committed,  had 
gone  to  his  field  of  maize,  Jaburu,  the  evil  divinity,  stole  and 
ate  the  seed;  and  when  Sura  returned,  killed  and  buried  him, 
a  cacao-tree  and  a  calabash-tree  growing  from  the  grave. 
Sibu,  the  almighty  one,  resolving  to  punish  Jaburu  and  de- 
manding of  him  a  drink  of  chocolate,  the  wives  of  the 
wicked  deity  roasted  the  cacao,  and  made  a  drinking-vessel  of 
the  calabash.  "Then  Sibu,  the  almighty  god,  willed  —  and 
whatever  he  wills  has  to  be :  '  May  the  first  cup  come  to  me ! ' 
and  as  it  so  came  to  pass,  he  said,  'My  uncle,  I  present  this 
cup  to  thee,  so  that  thou  drink!'  Jaburu  swallowed  the 
chocolate  at  once,  with  such  delight  that  his  throat  resounded, 
tshaaa!  And  he  said,  'My  uncle!  I  have  drunk  Sura's  first 
fruit!'  But  just  at  this  moment  he  began  to  swell,  and  he 
swelled  and  swelled  until  he  blew  up.  Then  Sibu,  the  almighty 
god,  picked  up  again  the  seed  of  our  kin,  which  was  in  Jaburu's 
body,  and  willed,  'Let  Sura  wake  up  again!'  And  as  it  so 
happened  he  gave  him  back  the  basket  with  the  seed  of  our  kin 


194  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

to  keep."  In  another  tale  a  duel  between  Sibu  and  Jaburu,  in 
which  each  should  throw  two  cacao-pods  at  the  other,  and 
he  should  lose  in  whose  hand  a  pod  first  broke,  was  the  pre- 
liminary for  the  creation  of  men,  which  Sibu  desired  and  Jaburu 
opposed.  The  almighty  god  chose  green  pods,  the  evil  one  ripe 
pods;  and  at  the  third  throw  the  pod  broke  in  Jaburu's  hand, 
mankind  being  then  born  from  the  seed.  A  third  legend,  of  a 
man-stealing  eagle  who  devoured  his  prey  in  company  with  a 
jaguar  (who  is  no  true  jaguar,  but  a  bad  spirit,  having  the  form 
of  a  stone  until  his  prey  approaches),  is  evidently  a  version  of 
the  story  of  the  bird-monster  told  by  Peter  Martyr. 

Ill,     EL  DORADO 

Not  the  quest  of  the  Golden  Fleece  itself  and  the  adventures 
of  the  Argonauts  with  clashing  rocks  and  Amazonian  women 
are  so  filled  with  extravagance  and  peril  as  is  the  search  for  El 
Dorado.6  The  legend  of  the  Gilded  Man  and  of  his  treasure 
city  sprang  from  the  soil  of  the  New  World  in  the  very  dawn  of 
its  discovery  —  whether  wholly  in  the  imaginations  of  con- 
quistadores  dazzled  with  dreams  of  gold,  or  partly  from  some 
custom,  tale,  or  myth  of  the  American  Indians  it  is  now  im- 
possible to  say.  In  its  earlier  form  it  told  of  a  priest,  or  king, 
or  priest-king,  who  once  a  year  smeared  his  body  with  oil, 
powdered  himself  with  gold  dust,  and  in  gilded  splendour,  ac- 
companied by  nobles,  floated  to  the  centre  of  a  lake,  where,  as 
the  onlookers  from  the  shore  sang  and  danced,  he  first  made 
offering  of  treasure  to  the  waters  .and  then  himself  leaped  in  to 
wash  the  gold  from  his  body.  Later,  fostered  by  the  readiness 
of  the  aborigines  to  rid  themselves  of  the  plague  of  white  men 
by  means  of  tales  of  treasure  cities  farther  on,  the  story  grew 
into  pictures  of  the  golden  empire  of  Omagua,  or  Manoa, 
or  Paytiti,  or  Enim,  on  the  shores  of  a  distant  lake.  Expedi- 
tion after  expedition  journeyed  in  quest  of  the  fabled  capital. 
As  early  as  1530,  Ambros  von  Alfinger,  a  German  knight,  set 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  195 

out  from  the  coast  of  Venezuela  in  search  of  a  golden  city, 
chaining  his  enslaved  native  carriers  to  one  another  by  means 
of  neck-rings  and  cutting  off  the  heads  of  those  who  succumbed 
to  fatigue  to  save  the  trouble  of  unlinking  them;  Alfmger  him- 
self was  wounded  in  the  neck  by  an  arrow  and  died  of  the 
wound.  In  1531  Diego  de  Ordaz  conducted  an  expedition  guided 
by  a  lieutenant  who  claimed  to  have  been  entertained  in  the 
city  of  Omoa  by  El  Dorado  himself;  in  1536-38  George  of 
Spires,  afterward  governor  of  Venezuela,  made  a  journey  of 
fifteen  hundred  miles  into  the  interior;  and  another  German,  the 
red-bearded  Nicholas  Federman,  departed  upon  the  same  quest. 
On  the  plains  of  Bogota  in  1539  they  met  Quesada  and  Belal- 
cazar,  who,  coming  from  the  north  and  from  the  south  respec- 
tively, had  subdued  the  Chibcha  realm.  Hernan  Perez  de 
Quesada,  brother  of  the  conqueror,  led  an  unlucky  expedi- 
tion, behaving  with  such  cruelty  that  his  death  from  lightning 
was  regarded  as  a  divine  retribution;  while  the  expeditions  of 
the  chivalrous  Philip  von  Hutten  (1540-41)  and  of  Orellana 
down  the  Amazon  (1540-41)  were  followed  by  others,  down  to 
the  time  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  quest  in  1595,  —  all  enlarging 
the  geographical  knowledge  of  South  America  and  accumulating 
fables  of  cities  of  gold  and  nations  of  warlike  women.  Of  all 
these  adventures,  however,  the  most  amazing  was  the  "Jornada 
de  Omagua  y  Dorado"  which  set  out  from  Peru  in  1559  under 
the  leadership  of  Don  Pedro  de  Ursua,  a  knight  of  Navarre. 
Ursua  was  a  gentleman,  worthy  of  his  knighthood,  but  his 
company  was  crowded  with  cut-throats,  of  whom  he  himself 
was  an  early  victim.  Hernando  de  Guzman  made  himself 
master  of  the  mutineers,  and  renouncing  allegiance  to  the 
King  of  Castile,  proclaimed  himself  Prince  and  King  of  all 
Tierra  Firme;  but  he,  in  turn  fell  before  his  tyrant  successor, 
Lope  de  Aguirre,  whose  fantastic  and  blood-thirsty  insanity 
caused  half  the  continent  to  shudder  at  his  name,  which 
is  still  remembered  in  Venezuelan  folk-lore,  where  the  phos- 
phorescence of  the  swamp  is  called  juego  de  Aguirre  in  the 


196  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

belief  that  under  such  form  the  tortured  soul  of  the  tyrant 
wanders  abroad. 

The  true  provenance  of  the  story  of  the  Gilded  Man  (if  not 
of  the  treasure  city)  seems  certainly  to  be  the  region  about  Bo- 
gota in  the  realm  of  the  Chibcha.  Possibly  the  myth  may  refer 
to  the  practices  of  one  of  the  nations  conquered  by  the  Muyscan 
Zipas  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards,  and  legendary  even 
at  that  time;  for  as  the  tale  is  told,  it  seems  to  describe  a  cere- 
mony in  honour  of  such  a  water-spirit  as  we  are  everywhere 
told  the  Colombian  nations  venerated;  and  it  may  actually 
be  that  the  Gilded  Man  was  himself  a  sacrifice  to  or  a  persona- 
tion of  the  deity.  Whatever  the  origin,  the  legends  of  El  Dorado 
have  their  node  in  the  lands  of  the  Chibcha  —  a  circumstance 
not  without  its  own  poetic  warrant,  for  from  no  other  American 
people  have  jewelleries  of  cunningly  wrought  gold  come  in 
more  abundance. 

The  Zipa  of  Bogota,  at  the  period  of  the  conquest,  was  the 
most  considerable  of  the  native  rulers  in  what  is  now  Colombia, 
having  an  empire  only  less  in  extent  than  those  of  the  Peruvian 
Incas  and  of  the  Aztec  Kings.  He  also  was  a  recent  lord,  en- 
gaged at  the  very  time  of  the  coming  of  the  whites  in  extend- 
ing his  power  over  neighbouring  rulers;  it  is  probable  that 
Guatavita,  east  of  Bogota  had  fallen  to  the  Zipa  not  many 
decades  before  the  conquest  and  this  Guatavita  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  scene  of  the  rite  of  El  Dorado;  in  any  case 
it  had  remained  a  famous  shrine.  Tunja  was  another  power 
to  the  east  of  Bogota  declining  before  the  rising  power  of 
the  Zipas,  its  Zaque  (as  the  Tunjan  caciques  were  called) 
being  saved  from  the  Zipa's  forces  by  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards. 

Besides  these — the  Chibcha  proper7 — there  were  in  Colom- 
bia in  the  sixteenth  century  other  civilized  peoples,  akin  in 
culture  and  language,  whose  chief  centres  were  in  the  elongated 
Cauca  valley  paralleling  the  Pacific  coast.  Farthest  north  were 
the  tribes  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Antioquia — theTamahi  and 


PLATE  XXVII 


Colombian  gold  work.  Ornaments  in  the  forms 
of  human  and  monstrous  beings,  doubtless  mytho- 
logical subjects.  The  originals  are  in  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History. 

(*) 

Colombian  gold  work.  The  human  figure  ap- 
parently holds  a  staff  or  wand  and  may  represent 
Bochica  or  similar  personage.  The  originals  are  in 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  197 

Nutabi;  south  of  these,  about  Cartago,  were  the  most  famous 
of  gold-workers,  the  Quimbaya;  while  near  the  borders  of  what 
is  now  Ecuador  dwelt  the  Coconuco  and  their  kindred.  All 
these  peoples  possessed  skill  in  pottery,  metal-working,  and 
weaving;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cauca  valley  were  the 
most  advanced  of  the  Colombians  in  these  arts.  Indeed,  the 
case  of  Peru  seems  to  be  in  a  measure  repeated;  for  the  Chibcha 
surpassed  their  neighbours  in  the  strength  of  their  military 
and  political  organization  rather  than  in  their  knowledge  of 
the  arts.  It  is  even  possible  that  the  Chibcha  had  been  driven 
eastward  by  the  western  tribes,  for  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Cauca  valley  possessed  traditions  of  a  northern  origin,  claim- 
ing to  be  immigrants;  while  the  Chibcha  still  regarded  certain 
spots  in  the  territories  of  their  western  enemies,  the  Muzo,  as 
sacred.  Little  is  known  of  the  mythic  systems  of  any  of  these 
peoples  save  the  Chibcha.  The  Antioquians  preserved  a  deluge- 
myth  (as  doubtless  did  all  the  other  Colombians);  and  they 
recognized  a  creator-god,  Abira,  a  spirit  of  evil,  Canicuba, 
and  a  goddess,  Dabeciba,  who  was  the  same  as  Dabaiba,  the 
Darien  Mother  of  the  Creator.  Cieza  de  Leon  says  8  that  the 
Antioquians  "carve  the  likeness  of  a  devil,  very  fierce  and  in 
human  form,  with  other  images  and  figures  of  cats  which  they 
worship;  when  they  require  water  or  sunshine  for  their  crops, 
they  seek  aid  from  these  idols."  Of  the  Quimbaya  Cieza  tells 
how  there  appeared  to  a  group  of  women  making  salt  beside 
a  spring  the  apparition  of  a  disembowelled  man  who  prophesied 
a  pestilence  that  soon  came.  "Many  women  and  boys  affirmed 
that  they  saw  the  dead  with  their  own  eyes  walking  again. 
These  people  well  understand  that  there  is  something  in  man 
besides  the  mortal  body,  though  they  do  not  hold  that  it  is  a 
soul,  but  rather  some  kind  of  transfiguration."  The  Sun,  the 
Moon,  and  the  Rainbow  were  important  divinities  with  all 
these  tribes,  and  they  made  offerings  of  gold  and  jewels  and 
children  to  water-spirits  in  rivers  and  in  springs.  Human 
sacrifice  was  probably  universal,  and  too  many  of  the  Indians, 


198  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

as  Cieza  puts  it,  "not  content  with  natural  food,  turned  their 
bellies  into  tombs  of  their  neighbours." 


IV.    MYTHS  OF  THE  CHIBCHA9 

Fray  Pedro  Simon  wrote  his  Noticias  Historiales  in  1623, 
some  four  score  years  from  the  conquest,  giving  in  his  fourth 
Noticia  an  account  of  the  myths  and  rites  of  the  Chibcha  which 
is  our  primary  source  for  the  beliefs  of  these  tribes.  Like  other 
American  peoples  the  Chibcha  recognized  a  Creator,  apparently 
the  Heaven  Father,  but  like  most  others  their  active  cults 
centred  about  lesser  powers :  the  Sun  (to  whom  human  sacri- 
fices were  made),  the  Moon,  the  Rainbow,  spirits  of  lakes  and 
other  genii  locorum,  culture  deities,  male  and  female,  and  the 
manes  of  ancestors.  Idols  of  gold  and  copper,  of  wood  and  clay 
and  cotton,  represented  gods  and  fetishes,  and  to  them  offer- 
ings were  made,  especially  of  emeralds  and  golden  ornaments. 
Fray  Pedro  says  that  thePijaos  aborigines  and  some  of  those  of 
Tunja  had  in  their  sanctuaries  images  having  three  heads  or 
three  faces  on  a  single  body  which,  the  natives  said,  represented 
three  persons  with  one  heart;  and  he  also  records  their  use  of 
crosses  to  mark  the  graves  of  those  dead  of  snake-bite,  as  well 
as  their  belief  that  the  souls  of  the  dead  fared  to  the  centre  of 
the  earth,  crossing  the  Stygian  river  on  balsas  made  of  spiders' 
webs,  for  which  reason  spiders  were  never  killed.  Like  the 
Aztec  they  held  that  the  lot  of  men  slain  in  battle  and  of  women 
dying  in  child-birth  was  especially  delectable  in  the  other 
world. 

The  worship  of  mountains,  serpents,  and  lakes  was  implied  in 
many  of  the  Chibcha  rites.  Slaves  were  sacrificed,  and  their 
bodies  were  buried  on  hill-tops;  children,  who  were  the  par- 
ticular offering  to  the  Sun,  were  sometimes  taken  to  mountain- 
tops  to  be  slain,  their  bodies  being  supposed  to  be  consumed  by 
the  Sun;  and  an  interesting  case  of  the  surrogate  for  human 
victims  was  the  practice  of  sacrificing  parrots  which  had  been 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  199 

taught  to  speak.  In  masked  dances,  addressed  to  the  Sun, 
tears  were  represented  on  the  masks  as  a  supplication  for  pity; 
and  another  curious  rite,  apparently  solar,  was  performed  at 
Tunja,  where  twelve  men  in  red,  presumably  typifying  the 
moons  of  the  year,  danced  about  a  blue  man,  who  was  doubtless 
the  sky-god.  The  ceremony  of  El  Dorado  is  only  one  of  many 
rites  in  which  the  divinities  of  the  sacred  lakes  were  propitiated; 
and  it  is  probable  that  these  water-spirits  were  conceived  in  the 
form  of  snakes,  as  when,  at  Lake  Guatavita,  a  huge  serpent 
was  supposed  to  issue  from  the  depths  to  secure  offerings  left 
upon  the  bank. 

The  same  concept  of  serpentiform  water-deities  appears  in 
the  curious  and  novel  creation-myth  of  the  Chibcha,  briefly 
told  by  Fray  Simon.  In  the  beginning  all  was  darkness,  for 
light  was  imprisoned  in  a  great  house  in  charge  of  a  being  called 
Chiminigagua,  whom  the  friar  names  as  the  Supreme  God, 
omnipotent,  ever  good,  and  lord  of  all  things.  After  creating 
huge  black  birds,  to  whom  he  gave  the  light,  commanding 
them  to  carry  it  in  their  beaks  until  all  the  world  was  illu- 
mined and  resplendent,  Chiminigagua  formed  the  Sun,  the 
Moon  (to  be  the  Sun's  wife  and  companion),  and  the  rest  of  the 
universe.  The  human  race  was  of  another  origin,  for  shortly 
after  the  creation  of  light,  from  Lake  Iguaque,  not  far  from 
Tunja,  emerged  a  woman  named  Bachue  or  Turachogue  ("the 
Good  Woman"),  bearing  with  her  a  boy  just  out  of  infancy. 
When  he  was  grown,  Bachue  married  him;  and  their  prolific 
offspring  —  she  brought  forth  four  or  six  children  at  a  birth  — 
peopled  the  earth;  but  finally  the  two  returned  beneath  the 
waters,  Bachue  enjoining  upon  the  people  to  keep  the  peace, 
to  obey  the  laws  which  she  had  given  them,  and  in  particular  to 
preserve  the  cult  of  the  gods;  while  the  pair  assumed  the  form 
of  serpents,  in  which  they  were  supposed  sometimes  to  reappear 
to  their  worshippers. 

The  belief  that  the  ancestors  of  men  issued  from  a  lake  or 
spring  was  common  to  many  Andean  tribes,  being  found  far 


200  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

to  the  south,  where  the  Indians  of  Cuzco  pointed  to  Lake 
Titicaca  as  the  place  whence  they  had  come.  The  myth  is  easy 
to  explain  for  the  obvious  reason  that  lakesides  are  desirable 
abodes  and  that  migrating  tribes  would  hark  back  to  aban- 
doned lakeside  homes  as  their  primal  sites;  however,  another 
suggestion  is  made  plausible  by  various  fragments  of  origin- 
myths  which  have  been  preserved,  namely,  that  the  Andean 
legends  belong  to  the  great  cycle  of  American  tales  which  make 
men  immigrants  to  the  upper  world  from  an  under-earth  realm 
whence  they  have  been  driven  by  the  malevolence  of  the  water- 
monster,  a  serpent  or  a  dragon.  There  are  many  striking  paral- 
lels between  the  Colombian  tales  and  those  of  the  Pueblo 
tribes  of  North  America  —  the  great  underworld-goddess,  the 
serpent  and  the  spider  as  subaqueous  and  subterranean  powers, 
the  return  of  the  dead  to  the  realm  below,  the  importance  of 
birds  in  cosmogony,  the  cult  of  the  rainbow;  and  along 
with  these  there  are  tales  of  a  culture  hero  and  of  a  pair  of 
divine  brothers  such  as  are  common  to  nearly  all  American 
peoples. 

Other  Colombian  legends  of  the  origin  of  men  include  the 
Pijaos  belief,  recorded  by  Fray  Simon,  that  their  ancestors 
had  issued  from  a  mountain,  and  the  tradition  of  the  Muzo  — 
western  neighbours  of  the  Chibcha  —  that  a  shadow,  Are, 
formed  faces  from  sand,  which  became  men  and  women  when 
he  sprinkled  them  with  water.  A  true  creation-story  (as  dis- 
tinguished from  tales  of  origin  through  generation)  was  told 
also  by  the  people  of  Tunja.  In  the  beginning  all  was  darkness 
and  fog,  wherein  dwelt  the  caciques  of  Ramiriqui  and  of 
Sogamozo,  nephew  and  uncle.  From  yellow  clay  they  fashioned 
men,  and  from  an  herb  they  created  women;  but  since  the 
world  was  still  unillumined,  after  enjoining  worship  upon  their 
creatures,  they  ascended  to  the  sky,  the  uncle  to  become  the 
Sun,  the  nephew  the  Moon.  It  was  at  Sogamozo  that  the  dance 
Q{  the  twelve  red  men  —  each  garlanded  and  carrying  a  cross, 
and  each  with  a  young  bird  borne  as  a  crest  above  his  head  — 


PLATE  XXVIII 

1.  Ceremonial  dish  of  black  ware  with  monster 
or    animal    forms    found    near    Anoire,    Antioquia. 
The  original  is  in  the  Museum  of  the  University  of 
Nebraska. 

2.  Image  of  mother  and  child,  red  earthenware, 
from  the  coastal  regions  of  Colombia.    The  original 
is  in  the  Museum  of  the  University  of  Nebraska. 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  201 

was  danced  about  the  blue  sky-man,  while  all  sang  how  human 
beings  are  mortal  and  must  change  their  bodies  into  dust  with- 
out knowing  what  shall  be  the  fate  of  their  souls. 

Fray  Simon  relates  an  episode  of  these  same  Indians 
which  is  enlightening  both  as  to  the  missionary  and  as  to 
the  aboriginal  conception  of  the  powers  that  be.  After  the 
first  missionary  had  laboured  among  the  natives  of  Tunja  and 
Sogamozo,  "the  Demon  there  began  to  give  contrary  doctrines; 
and  among  other  matters  he  sought  to  discredit  the  teaching 
of  the  Incarnation,  telling  them  that  such  a  thing  had  not  yet 
taken  place.  Nevertheless,  it  should  happen  that  the  Sun,  as- 
suming human  flesh  in  the  body  of  a  virgin  of  the  pueblo  of 
Guacheta,  should  cause  her  to  bring  forth  that  which  she 
should  conceive  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  although  remaining 
virgin.  This  was  bruited  throughout  the  provinces,  and  the 
cacique  of  the  pueblo  named,  wishing  to  prove  the  miracle,  took 
two  virgins,  and  leading  them  forth  from  his  house  every  dawn, 
caused  them  to  dispose  themselves  upon  a  neighbouring  hill, 
where  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  would  shine  upon  them.  Con- 
tinuing this  for  some  days,  it  was  granted  to  the  Demon  by 
Divine  permission  (whose  judgements  are  incomprehensible) 
that  the  event  should  issue  according  to  his  desire:  in  such 
manner  that  in  a  few  days  one  of  the  damsels  became  pregnant, 
as  she  said,  by  the  Sun."  At  the  end  of  nine  months  the  girl 
brought  forth  a  hacuata,  a  large  and  beautiful  emerald,  which 
was  treated  as  an  infant,  and  after  being  carried  for  several 
days,  became  a  living  creature  —  "all  by  the  order  of  the 
Demon."  The  child  was  called  Goranchacha,  and  when  he  was 
grown  he  became  cacique,  with  the  title  of  "Child  of  the  Sun." 
It  is  to  be  suspected  that  the  story  of  the  virgin-born  son  of  the 
Sun  was  older  than  the  first  preaching  of  the  Incarnation,  and 
that  Spanish  ears  had  too  eagerly  misheard  some  tale  of  rites 
or  myths  which  must  have  been  analogous  to  the  Inca  legends  of 
descent  from  the  Sun  and  to  their  consecration  of  virgins  to 
his  worship. 


202  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Like  the  other  civilized  American  nations  the  Chibcha  pre- 
served the  tradition  of  a  bearded  old  man,  clothed  in  long 
robes  who  came  from  the  east  to  instruct  them  in  the  arts  of 
life  and  to  raise  them  from  primeval  barbarism;  and  like  other 
churchly  writers  Fray  Pedro  Simon  regarded  this  as  evidence 
of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  by  an  apostle.  Nemptereque- 
teva,  or  Nemquetheba,  and  Xue,  or  Zuhe,  are  two  of  the 
names  of  this  culture  hero,  worshipped  as  the  god  Bochica.  He 
taught  the  weaving  of  cotton,  the  cultivation  of  fruits,  the 
building  of  houses,  the  adoration  of  the  gods;  and  then  he 
passed  on  his  mysterious  way,  leaving  as  proof  of  his  mission 
designs  of  crosses  and  serpents,  and  the  custom  of  erecting 
crosses  over  the  graves  of  the  victims  of  snake-bite  —  to 
Fray  Pedro  an  obvious  reminiscence  of  the  brazen  serpent 
raised  on  a  cross  by  Moses  in  the  Wilderness.  One  of  the 
epithets  of  this  greybeard  was  Chiminizagagua,  or  "Messenger 
of  Chiminigagua,"  the  supreme  god;  and  when  the  Spaniards 
appeared  they  were  called  Gagua,  after  the  light-giver;  but 
later,  when  their  cruelties  had  set  them  in  a  different  context, 
the  aborigines  changed  the  name  to  Suegagua  ("Demon  with 
Light")  after  their  principal  devil,  Suetiva,  "and  this  they 
give  today  to  the  Spaniards."  Piedrahita  says  the  Spaniards 
were  termed  Zuhdy  but  he  identifies  the  name  as  belonging  to 
the  hero  Bochica. 

A  curious  episode  follows  the  departure  of  the  culture  hero. 
Among  the  people  appeared  a  woman,  beautiful  and  resplen- 
dent —  "or,  better  to  say,  a  devil  in  her  figure"  —  who  taught 
doctrines  wholly  opposed  to  the  injunctions  of  Chiminizagagua. 
Dancing  and  carousal  were  the  tenets  of  her  evangel;  and  in 
displeasure  at  this,  Chiminizagagua  transformed  the  woman 
(variously  known  as  Chie,  Huytaca,  or  Xubchasgagua)  into 
an  owl,  condemning  her  to  walk  the  night.  Humboldt  says 
that  Bochica  changed  his  wife  Chia  into  the  Moon  (chia 
signifies  "moon"  in  the  Chibchan  tongue,  says  Acosta  de 
Samper);  and  it  seems  altogether  likely  that  in  the  culture 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  203 

hero,  Messenger  of  Light,  and  the  festal  heroine,  with  their 
opposite  doctrines,  we  have  a  myth  of  sun  and  moon. 

The  Chibcha,  of  course,  had  their  deluge-legend.  In  the 
version  given  by  Fray  Pedro  Simon  it  is  associated  with  the 
appearance  of  the  rainbow  as  the  symbol  of  hope;  and  since 
the  rainbow  cult  was  important  throughout  the  Andean  region, 
it  may  everywhere  have  been  associated  with  some  such  myth 
as  the  friar  recounts.  Chibchachum,  the  tutelary  of  the  natives 
of  Bogota,  being  offended  by  the  people,  who  murmured 
against  him  and  indeed  openly  offended,  sent  a  flood  to  punish 
them,  whereupon  they,  in  their  peril,  appealed  to  Bochica, 
who  appeared  to  them  upon  a  rainbow,  and,  striking  the 
mountains  with  his  staff,  opened  a  conduit  for  the  waters. 
Chibchachum  was  punished,  as  Zeus  punished  the  Titans,  by 
being  thrust  beneath  the  earth  to  take  the  place  of  the  lignum- 
vitae-trees  which  had  hitherto  upheld  it,  and  his  weary  rest- 
lessness is  the  cause  of  earthquakes;  while  the  rainbow,  Chucha- 
viva,  was  thenceforth  honoured  as  a  deity,  though  not 
without  fear;  for  Chibchachum,  in  revenge  for  his  disgrace, 
announced  that  when  it  appeared,  many  would  die.  In  the 
version  of  this  tale  given  by  Piedrahita,  Huytaca  plays  a  part, 
for  it  is  as  a  result  of  her  artifices  that  the  waters  rise;  but 
Bochica  is  again  the  deliverer,  and  the  place  opened  for  the 
issuance  of  the  waters  was  shown  at  the  cataract  of  Tequen- 
dama  —  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world." 

The  myth  of  Chibchachum,  shaking  the  world  which  he 
supports,  has  its  analogue  not  only  in  the  tale  of  Atlas  but 
also  in  the  Tlingit  legend  of  the  Old  Woman  Below  who  jars 
the  post  that  upholds  the  world.  It  would  seem,  however,  not 
impossible  that  the  story  is  an  etymological  myth,  for  Fray 
Pedro  Simon  says  that  Chibchachum  means  "Staff  of  the 
Chibcha,"  a  name  which  might  easily  lend  itself  to  the  mytho- 
poesy  of  the  deluge-tale;  nor  is  it  unreasonable  from  the  point 
of  view  of  cultural  advancement,  for  the  Chibcha  were  beyond 
the  stage  in  which  it  is  profitable  to  refer  all  deifications  to 


204  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

natural  phenomena.  Chibchachum,  says  the  friar,  was  god  of 
commerce  and  industries  —  a  complex  divinity,  not  a  mere 
hero  of  myth  —  and  Bochica,  the  most  universally  venerated  of 
Chibchan  deities,  was  revered  as  a  law-giver,  divinity  of 
caciques  and  captains;  served  with  sacrifices  of  gold  and 
tobacco,  he  was  worshipped  with  fasts  and  hymns,  and  his 
image  was  that  of  a  man  with  the  golden  staff  of  authority. 
There  was  a  fox-god  and  a  bear-god,  but  Nemcatacoa,  the 
bear-god,  was  patron  of  weavers  and  dyers,  and,  oddly,  of 
drunkards;  in  his  bear's  form  he  was  supposed  to  sing  and 
dance  with  his  followers.  Chukem,  deity  of  boundaries  and 
foot-races,  must  have  been  an  American  Hermes,  and  Bachue, 
goddess  of  agriculture  and  of  the  springs  of  life,  was,  no  doubt, 
a  personification  of  the  earth  itself,  a  Ge  or  Demeter.  Chucha- 
viva,  the  Rainbow,  aided  women  in  child-birth  and  those  sick 
with  a  fever  —  and  we  think  of  the  images  of  the  rainbow 
goddess  on  the  sweat  lodges  of  the  Navaho  far  to  the  north, 
and  of  the  rainbow  insignia  of  the  royal  Incas  in  the  imperial 
south.  Certain  it  is  that  here  we  have  to  do  with  a  pantheon 
that  reflects  the  complexity  of  a  life  developed  beyond  the 
primitive  needs  of  those  whom  we  call  nature-folk. 

V.    THE  MEN  FROM  THE  SEA 

The  most  picturesque  account  of  the  landing  of  gigantic 
strangers  on  the  desert-like  Pacific  coast,  just  south  of  the 
equator,  is  that  given  by  Cieza  de  Leon.10  "I  will  relate  what 
I  have  been  told,  without  paying  attention  to  the  various 
versions  of  the  story  current  among  the  vulgar,  who  always 
exaggerate  everything."  With  this  proclamation  of  modesty, 
he  proceeds  with  the  tale  which  the  natives,  he  says,  have 
received  from  their  ancestors  of  a  remote  time. 

"There  arrived  on  the  coast,  in  boats  made  of  reeds,  as  big 
as  large  ships,  a  party  of  men  of  such  size  that,  from  the  knee 
downwards,  their  height  was  as  great  as  the  entire  height  of  an 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  205 

ordinary  man,  though  he  might  be  of  good  stature.  Their 
limbs  were  all  in  proportion  to  the  deformed  size  of  their  bodies, 
and  it  was  a  monstrous  thing  to  see  their  heads,  with  hair  reach- 
ing to  the  shoulders.  Their  eyes  were  as  large  as  small  plates. 
They  had  no  beards  and  were  dressed  in  the  skins  of  animals, 
others  only  in  the  dress  which  nature  gave  them,  and  they  had 
no  women  with  them.  When  they  arrived  at  this  point  [Santa 
Elena],  they  made  a  sort  of  village,  and  even  now  the  sites  of 
their  houses  are  pointed  out.  But  as  they  found  no  water,  in 
order  to  remedy  the  want  they  made  some  very  deep  wells, 
works  which  are  truly  worthy  of  remembrance,  for  such  is  their 
magnitude  that  they  certainly  must  have  been  executed 
by  very  strong  men.  They  dug  these  wells  in  the  living 
rock  until  they  met  with  water,  and  then  they  lined  them 
with  masonry  from  top  to  bottom  in  such  sort  that  they  will 
endure  for  many  ages.  The  water  in  these  wells  is  very  good  and 
wholesome,  and  always  so  cold  that  it  is  very  pleasant  to 
drink  it.  Having  built  their  village  and  made  their  wells  or 
cisterns  where  they  could  drink,  these  great  men,  or  giants, 
consumed  all  the  provisions  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon 
in  the  surrounding  country,  insomuch  that  one  of  them 
ate  more  meat  than  fifty  of  the  natives  of  the  country  could. 
As  all  the  food  they  could  find  was  not  sufficient  to  sustain 
them,  they  killed  many  fish  with  nets  and  other  gear.  They 
were  detested  by  the  natives,  because  in  using  their  women 
they  killed  them,  and  the  men  also  in  another  way;  but  the 
Indians  were  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  destroy  this  new 
people  who  had  come  to  occupy  their  lands.  .  .  .  All  the 
natives  declare  that  God,  our  Lord,  brought  upon  them  a 
punishment  in  proportion  to  the  enormity  of  their  offence. 
...  A  fearful  and  terrible  fire  came  down  from  heaven 
with  a  great  noise,  out  of  the  midst  of  which  there  issued 
a  shining  angel  with  a  glittering  sword,  with  which,  at  one 
blow,  they  were  all  killed,  and  the  fire  consumed  them.  There 
only  remained  a  few  bones  and  skulls,  which  God  allowed  to 


206  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

remain  without  being  consumed  by  the  fire,  as  a  memorial 
of  this  punishment." 

Cieza  de  Leon's  story  is  only  one  among  a  number  of  accounts 
of  this  race  of  giants,  come  from  the  sea  and  destroyed  long 
ago  by  flame  from  heaven  for  the  sin  of  sodomy.  To  these 
legends  recent  investigations  have  added  a  new  interest;  for 
during  excavations  in  the  coast  region  to  the  north  of  Cape 
Santa  Elena  the  members  of  the  George  G.  Heye  Expeditions 
(1906-08)  discovered  the  remains  of  a  unique  aboriginal  civili- 
zation in  this  region,  among  its  monuments  being  stone-faced 
wells  corresponding  to  those  mentioned  by  the  early  narration. 
Another  and  peculiarly  interesting  type  of  monument,  found 
here  in  abundance,  is  the  stone  seat,  whether  throne  or  altar, 
carved  with  human  or  animal  figures  to  support  it,  and  remi- 
niscent of  the  duhos  of  the  Antilles  and  of  carved  metates  and 
seats  found  northward  in  the  continent  and  beyond  the  Isth- 
mus. It  is  the  opinion  of  the  excavators  that  these  seats  were 
thrones  for  deities;  possibly  also  for  human  dignitaries,  espe- 
cially as  clay  figures  represent  men  sitting  upon  such  seats 
—  images,  perhaps,  of  household  gods;  while  the  figures  of  men, 
pumas,  serpents,  birds,  monkeys,  and  other  figures  crouching 
caryatid-like  are,  no  doubt,  depictions  of  supporting  powers, 
divine  auxiliaries  or  gods  themselves.  Monstrous  forms,  com- 
posite animals,  and  grotesquely  frog-like  images  of  a  female 
goddess  in  bas-relief  on  stele-like  slabs  —  mute  emblems  of  a 
forgotten  pantheon  —  add  curious  interest  to  the  vanished 
race,  remembered  only  in  distorted  legend  when  the  first- 
coming  Spaniards  received  the  tale  from  the  aborigines. 

Juan  de  Velasco/1  in  the  beginning  of  his  history  of  Quito, 
places  the  coming  of  the  giants  about  the  time  of  the  Christian 
era;  and  six  or  seven  centuries  later,  he  declares,  another  in- 
cursion of  men  from  the  sea  appeared  on  this  coast,  destined 
to  leave  a  more  permanent  trace,  for  the  present  city  of  Ca- 
raques  not  only  marks  the  site  of  their  first  power,  but  bears 
the  name  of  the  Cara.  These  invaders  are  said  to  have  come 


PLATE  XXIX 

Scene  from  a  vase,  Truxillo,  showing  balsa.  The 
drawing  is  in  the  Chimu  style.  After  Joyce,  South 
American  Archaeology,  page  126. 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  207 

on  balsas — the  strange  boats  of  this  coast,  formed  of  logs  bound 
together,  the  longest  at  the  centre,  into  the  form  of  a  hull,  on 
which  a  platform  was  built,  while  masts  bore  cloth  sails;  and 
it  is  stated  that  the  Spaniards  encountered  such  craft  capable 
of  carrying  forty  or  fifty  men.  The  Cara  were  an  adventurous 
people,  and  after  dwelling  for  a  time  upon  the  coast,  they 
advanced  into  the  interior  until,  about  980  A.  D.,  according  to 
Velasco,  they  eventually  established  their  power  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Quito,  where  the  Scyri  (as  the  Cara  king  was 
called)  became  a  powerful  overlord.  From  that  time  until 
Quito  was  subdued  by  the  Incas  Tupac  Yupanqui  and  Huayna 
Capac  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  Scyris 
reigned  over  the  northern  empire,  constantly  extending  their 
territories  by  war;  but  their  power  was  finally  broken  when 
the  Inca  added  the  emerald  of  the  Scyris  to  the  red  fringe  of 
Cuzco  to  complete  his  imperial  crown. 

The  followers  of  the  Scyris,  Velasco  says,  were  mere  idola- 
ters, having  at  the  head  of  their  pantheon  the  Sun  and  the 
Moon  who  had  guided  them  on  their  journeys;  and  he  describes 
the  temples  built  to  these  deities  on  two  opposite  hills  at 
Quito,  that  to  the  Sun  having  before  the  door  two  pillars 
which  served  to  measure  the  solar  year,  while  twelve  lesser 
columns  indicated  the  beginning  of  each  month.  Elsewhere  in 
their  empire  were  the  usual  local  cults,  —  worship  of  animals 
and  elements,  with  tales  of  descent  from  serpentiform  water- 
spirits  and  with  adoration  of  fish  and  of  food  animals  — 
while  on  the  coast  the  Sea  was  a  great  divinity,  and  the  islands 
of  Puna  and  La  Plata  were  the  seats  of  famous  sanctuaries, 
at  the  former  shrine  prisoners  being  sacrificed  to  Tumbal,  the 
war-god,  by  having  their  hearts  torn  out.  The  neighbouring 
coast  was  the  seat  of  the  veneration  of  the  great  emerald 
(mentioned  by  Cieza  de  Leon  and  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega) 
which  was  famous  as  a  god  of  healing;  and  it  is  altogether 
probable  that  the  Scyris  brought  their  regard  for  the  emerald 
from  this  region  in  which  the  gem  abounded,  though  this 


208  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

may  well  have  been  merely  a  local  intensification  of  that 
belief  in  the  magic  of  green  and  blue  gems  which  is  broadcast 
in  the  two  Americas. 

Besides  the  stories  of  the  giants  and  the  Cara,  there  is  a 
third  legend  of  an  ancient  descent  of  seamen  upon  the  equa- 
torial coast.  Balboa12  is  the  narrator  of  the  tale  of  the  coming 
of  Naymlap  and  his  people  to  Lambeyeque,  a  few  degrees 
south  of  Cape  Santa  Elena,  and  the  story  which  he  tells  is  given 
with  a  minuteness  as  to  name  and  description  that  leaves 
no  doubt  of  its  native  origin.  At  a  very  remote  period  there 
arrived  from  the  north  a  great  fleet  of  balsas,  commanded  by 
a  brave  and  renowned  chieftain,  Naymlap.  His  wife  was 
called  Ceterni,  and  a  list  of  court  officers  is  given — Pitazofi, 
the  trumpeter;  Ninacolla,  warden  of  the  chief's  litter  and 
throne;  Ninagentue,  the  cup-bearer;  Fongasigde,  spreader  of 
shell-dust  before  the  royal  feet  (a  function  which  leads  us  to 
suspect  that  the  royal  feet,  for  magic  reasons,  were  never  to 
touch  the  earth);  Ochocalo,  chief  of  the  cuisine;  Xam,  master 
of  face-paints;  and  Llapchilulli,  charged  with  the  care  of 
vestments  and  plumes.  From  this  account  of  the  entourage, 
one  readily  infers  that  the  chieftain  is  more  than  man,  him- 
self a  divinity;  and,  indeed,  Balboa  goes  on  to  say  that  im- 
mediately after  the  new  comers  had  landed,  they  built  a 
temple,  named  Chot,  wherein  they  placed  an  idol  which  they 
had  brought  and  which,  carved  of  green  stone  in  the  image 
of  the  chief,  was  called  Llampallec,  or  "figure  of  Naymlap." 
After  a  long  reign  Naymlap  disappeared,  leaving  the  report 
that,  given  wings  by  his  power,  he  had  ascended  to  the  skies; 
and  his  followers,  in  their  affliction,  went  everywhere  in  search 
of  their  lord,  while  their  children  inhabited  the  territories  which 
had  been  acquired.  Cium,  the  successor  of  Naymlap,  at  the 
end  of  his  reign,  immured  himself  in  a  subterranean  cham- 
ber, where  he  perished  of  hunger  in  order  that  he  might  leave 
the  reputation  of  being  immortal;  and  after  Cium  were  nine 
other  kings,  succeeded  by  Tempellec,  who  undertook  to  move 


THE  ANDEAN  NORTH  209 

the  statue  of  Naymlap.  But  when  a  demon,  in  the  form  of  a 
beautiful  woman,  had  seduced  him,  it  began  to  rain  —  a  thing 
hitherto  unknown  on  that  dry  coast  —  and  continued  for 
thirty  days,  this  being  followed  by  a  year  of  famine,  whereupon 
the  priests,  binding  Tempellec  hand  and  foot,  cast  him  into 
the  sea,  after  which  the  kindgom  was  changed  into  a  republic. 
This  tale  bears  all  the  marks  of  authentic  tradition.  We  may 
well  suppose  that  Naymlap  and  his  successors  were  magic 
kings,  reigning  during  the  period  of  their  vigorous  years  and 
then  sacrificed  to  make  way  for  a  successor  who  should  anew 
incarnate  the  sacred  life  of  Llampallec.  Such  rulers,  as  corn- 
spirits  and  embodiments  of  the  communal  soul  of  their  people, 
have  been  made  familiar  by  Sir  James  G.  Frazer's  monu- 
mental Golden  Bough;  and  in  this  case  it  would  appear  that 
the  sacred  king  was  regarded  as  a  marine  divinity,  probably 
as  the  son  of  Mother  Sea.  Certainly  this  would  not  merely 
explain  the  shell-dust  spread  beneath  his  feet,  but  it  might 
also  account  for  the  punishment  of  Tempellec,  who  had  brought 
the  cataclysm  of  water  to  the  land  and  so  was  cast  back  to  his 
own  element;  while  it  is  even  possible  that  the  worship  of  the 
emerald,  which  all  writers  mention  in  connexion  with  this 
coast,  may  have  here  received  its  especial  impetus  from  the 
colour  and  translucency  of  the  stone,  suggesting  the  green 
waters  of  the  ocean. 


CHAPTER   VII 
THE   ANDEAN   SOUTH 

I.    THE  EMPIRE  OF  THE   IN  CAS » 

IN  this  land  of  Peru,"  wrote  Cieza  de  Leon,2  "are  three  desert 
ranges  where  men  can  in  no  wise  exist.  One  of  these  com- 
prises the  montana  (forests)  of  the  Andes,  full  of  dense  wilder- 
nesses where  men  cannot  live,  nor  ever  have  lived.  The  second 
is  the  mountainous  region,  extending  the  whole  length  of  the 
Cordillera  of  the  Andes,  which  is  intensely  cold,  and  its  sum- 
mits are  covered  with  eternal  snow,  so  that  in  no  way  can 
people  live  in  this  region  owing  to  the  snow  and  the  cold,  and 
also  because  there  are  no  provisions,  all  things  being  destroyed 
by  the  snow  and  the  wind,  which  never  ceases  to  blow.  The 
third  range  comprises  the  sandy  deserts  from  Tumbez  to  the 
other  side  of  Tarapaca,  in  which  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen 
but  sand-hills  and  the  fierce  sun  which  dries  them  up,  without 
water,  nor  herb,  nor  tree,  nor  created  thing,  except  birds  which, 
by  the  gift  of  their  wings,  wander  wherever  they  list.  This 
kingdom,  being  so  vast,  has  great  deserts  for  the  reasons  I 
have  now  given. 

"The  inhabited  region  is  after  this  fashion.  In  parts  of  the 
mountains  of  the  Andes  are  ravines  and  dales,  which  open  out 
into  deep  valleys  of  such  width  as  often  to  form  great  plains  be- 
tween the  mountains;  and  although  the  snow  falls,  it  all  re- 
mains on  the  higher  part.  As  these  valleys  are  closed  in,  they 
are  not  molested  by  the  winds,  nor  does  the  snow  reach  them, 
and  the  land  is  so  fruitful  that  all  things  which  are  sown  yield 
abundantly;  and  there  are  trees  and  many  birds  and  animals. 
The  land  being  so  fertile,  is  well  peopled  by  the  natives.  They 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  211 

make  their  villages  with  rows  of  stones  roofed  with  straw,  and 
live  healthily  and  in  comfort.  Thus  the  mountains  of  the  Andes 
form  these  dales  and  ravines  in  which  there  are  populous  vil- 
lages, and  rivers  of  excellent  water  flow  near  them,  some  of  the 
rivers  send  their  waters  to  the  South  Sea,  entering  by  the  sandy 
deserts  which  I  have  mentioned,  and  the  humidity  of  their 
water  gives  rise  to  very  beautiful  valleys  with  great  rows  of 
trees.  The  valleys  are  two  or  three  leagues  broad,  and  great 
quantities  of  algoroba  trees  [Prosopis  horrida]  grow  in  them, 
which  flourish  even  at  great  distances  from  any  water. 
Wherever  there  are  groves  of  trees  the  land  is  free  from 
sand  and  very  fertile  and  abundant.  In  ancient  times  these 
valleys  were  very  populous,  and  still  there  are  Indians  in  them, 
though  not  so  many  as  in  former  days.  As  it  never  rains  in 
these  sandy  deserts  and  valleys  of  Peru,  they  do  not  roof  their 
houses  as  they  do  in  the  mountains,  but  build  large  houses  of 
adobes  [sun-dried  bricks]  with  pleasant  terraced  roofs  of  matting 
to  shade  them  from  the  sun,  nor  do  the  Spaniards  use  any  other 
roofing  than  these  reed  mats.  To  prepare  their  fields  for  sowing, 
they  lead  channels  from  the  rivers  to  irrigate  the  valleys,  and 
the  channels  are  made  so  well  and  with  so  much  regularity 
that  all  the  land  is  irrigated  without  any  waste.  This  system 
of  irrigation  makes  the  valleys  very  green  and  cheerful,  and 
they  are  full  of  fruit-trees  both  of  Spain  and  of  this  country. 
At  all  times  they  raise  good  harvests  of  maize  and  wheat,  and 
of  everything  that  they  sow.  Thus,  although  I  have  described 
Peru  as  being  formed  of  three  desert  ridges,  yet  from  them, 
by  the  will  of  God,  descend  these  valleys  and  rivers,  without 
which  no  man  could  live.  This  is  the  cause  why  the  natives 
were  so  easily  conquered,  for  if  they  rebelled  they  would  all 
perish  of  cold  and  hunger.  Except  the  land  which  they  inhabit, 
the  whole  country  is  full  of  snowy  mountains,  enormous  and 
very  terrible." 

Cieza  de  Leon's  description  brings  vividly  before  the  imagina- 
tion the  physical  surroundings  which  made  possible  the  evolu- 


212  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

tion  and  the  long  history  of  the  greatest  of  native  American 
empires.  Divided  from  one  another  by  towering  mountains 
and  inhospitable  deserts,  the  tribes  and  clans  that  filtered  into 
this  region  at  some  remote  period  were  compelled  to  develop  in 
relative  isolation;  while,  further,  the  conditions  of  existence 
were  such  that  the  inhabitants  could  not  be  nomadic  huntsmen, 
nor  even  fishermen.  Along  the  shores  are  vestiges  of  ancient 
shell-heaps,  indicative  of  utterly  primitive  fisher-folk,  and  the 
sea  always  remained  an  important  source  of  food  for  the  coastal 
peoples ;  yet  even  here,  as  Cieza  de  Leon  indicates,  the  growth 
of  population  was  dependent  upon  an  intensive  cultivation  of 
the  narrow  river-valleys  rather  than  upon  the  conquest  of  new 
territories.  Thus,  the  whole  environment  of  life  in  Peru,  mon- 
tane and  littoral,  is  framed  by  the  fact  of  more  or  less  con- 
stricted and  protected  valley  centres,  immensely  productive  in 
response  to  toil,  but  yielding  no  idyllic  fruits  to  unlaborious 
ease.  If  the  peoples  who  inhabited  these  valleys  were  not  agri- 
culturists when  they  entered  them,  they  were  compelled  to 
become  such  in  order  that  they  might  live  and  increase;  and 
while  the  stupendous  thrift  of  the  aborigines,  as  evidenced  by 
their  stone-terraced  gardens,  their  elaborate  aqueducts,  and 
their  wonderful  roads,  still  excites  the  astonishment  of  be- 
holders, it  is  none  the  less  intelligible  as  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  prolonged  human  habitation.  It  is  certain  that  the 
Peruvian  peoples  were  the  most  accomplished  of  all  Americans 
in  the  working  of  the  soil;  and  it  is  possible  that  they  were  the 
originators  of  agriculture  in  America,  for  it  was  from  Peru, 
apparently,  that  the  growing  of  maize  spread  throughout  wide 
regions  of  South  America,  Peru  that  developed  the  potato  as  a 
food-crop,  and  in  Peru  that  the  cultivation  of  cotton  and  various 
fruits  and  vegetables  added  greatest  variety  to  the  native  farm- 
ing. Peru,  likewise,  was  the  only  American  centre  in  which  there 
was  a  domestic  animal  more  important  than  the  dog;  and  the 
antiquity  of  the  taming  of  the  llama  and  alpaca  —  useful  not 
only  for  food  and  wool,  but  also  as  beasts  of  burden  —  is  shown 


PLATE  XXX 

Machu  Picchu,  in  the  valley  of  the  Urubamba, 
north  of  Cuzco.  These  ruins  of  an  ancient  Inca 
city  were  discovered  by  Hiram  Bingham,  of  the 
Yale  University  and  National  Geographical  Society 
expedition,  in  1911,  and  are  by  him  identified  with 
the  "Tampu-Tocco"  of  Inca  tradition  (see  pages 
216-18,  and  Plate  XXXVIII).  From  photograph, 
courtesy  of  Hiram  Bingham,  Director  of  the  Yale 
Peruvian  Expedition. 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  213 

by  the  fact  that  these  animals  show  marked  differentiation 
from  the  wild  guanaco  from  which  they  are  derived.  The  de- 
velopment of  domestic  species  of  this  animal  and,  even  more, 
the  development  of  maize  from  its  ancestral  grasses  (if  indeed 
this  were  Peruvian) 3  imply  many  centuries  of  settled  and  in- 
dustrious life,  a  consideration  which  adds  strongly  to  the  ar- 
chaeological and  legendary  indications  of  a  civilization  that 
must  be  reckoned  in  millennia. 

The  conditions  which  thus  fostered  local  and  intensive  cul- 
tural evolutions  were  scarcely  less  favourable  —  once  the  local 
valleys  had  reached  a  certain  complexity  —  to  the  formation 
of  extensive  empires.  As  Cieza  de  Leon  remarks,  conquest  was 
easy  where  refuge  was  difficult;  and  the  Inca  conquerors  them- 
selves found  that  the  most  effective  weapon  they  could  employ 
against  the  coastal  cities  was  mastery  of  their  aqueducts.  The 
town  which  lost  control  of  its  water,  drawn  from  the  hills, 
could  only  surrender;  and  thus,  the  segregated  valleys  fell 
an  easy  prey  to  a  powerful  and  aggressive  people,  gifted  with 
engineering  skill,  such  as  the  Inca  race;  while  the  empire  won 
was  not  difficult  to  hold.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest 
that  empire  was  truly  immense.  Tahuantinsuyu  ("the  Four 
Quarters")  was  the  native  name,  and  "the  Quartered  City" 
(Cuzco),  its  capital,  was  regarded  as  the  Navel  of  the  World. 
The  four  quarters,  or  provinces,  were  oriented  from  Cuzco: 
the  southerly  was  Collasuyu,  stretching  from  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Lake  Titicaca  southward;  the  eastern  province  was 
Antisuyu,  extending  down  the  slopes  of  the  Andes  into  the 
regions  of  savagery;  to  the  west  lay  Cuntisuyu,  reaching  to 
the  coast  and  to  the  lands  of  the  Yunca  peoples;  while  to  the 
north  was  Chinchasuyu,  following  the  Andean  valleys.  Shortly 
before  the  Conquest  the  Inca  dominion  had  been  imposed 
upon  the  realm  of  the  Scyris  of  Quito,  so  that  the  northern 
boundary  lay  beyond  the  equator;  while  the  extreme  southerly 
border  had  recently  been  extended  over  the  Calchaqui  tribes 
and  down  the  coast  to  the  edges  of  Araucania  in  the  neigh- 


214  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

bourhood  of  latitude  35°  south.  The  imperial  territories  were 
naturally  narrowed  to  the  Andean  region,  for  the  tropical 
forests  to  the  east  offered  no  allurements  to  the  mountain- 
loving  race  which,  indeed,  could  endure  only  temporarily  the 
heat  of  the  western  coast,  so  that  Inca  campaigners  in  this 
direction  resorted  to  frequent  reliefs  lest  their  men  be  de- 
bilitated. On  the  other  hand,  the  immense  expanse  north  and 
south,  notwithstanding  the  perfection  of  the  roads  and  for- 
tresses built  by  astute  rulers  to  facilitate  communication, 
caused  a  natural  tension  of  the  parts  and  a  tendency  to  break 
at  the  appearance  of  even  the  least  weakness  at  the  centre. 
Such  appears  to  have  been  the  fatal  defect  underlying  the 
conflict  of  Huascar,  at  Cuzco,  with  Atahualpa,  whose  initial 
strength  lay  in  his  possession  of  Quito,  and  whose  career  was 
brought  to  an  untimely  end  by  the  advent  of  Pizarro.  Despite 
the  fact  that  Inca  power  had  been  clearly  crescent  within  the 
generation,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  political  con- 
ditions which  the  Spaniards  used  to  advantage  might  not, 
if  left  to  themselves,  have  disrupted  the  great  empire. 

There  is  reason  to  think  that  such  a  rupture  had  occurred 
at  least  once  before  in  the  history  of  Andean  civilization. 
The  list  of  more  than  a  hundred  Peruvian  kings  given  by  the 
Licentiate  Fernando  Montesinos  (writing  about  1650) 4  was 
formerly  viewed  with  much  distrust,  chiefly  for  the  reason  that 
the  kings  of  the  pre-Inca  dynasties  recorded  by  Montesinos 
are  almost  without  exception  unnamed  by  earlier  and  prime 
authorities  on  Peruvian  history  (including  Garcilasso  de  la 
Vega  and  Cieza  de  Leon).  Recent  discoveries,  however,  both 
scholarly  and  archaeological,  have  brought  a  new  plausibility 
to  Montesinos's  lists,  and  it  appears  probable  that  he  derived 
them  from  the  lost  works  of  Bias  Valera,  one  of  the  earliest 
men  in  the  field,  known  to  have  had  exceptional  opportuni- 
ties for  a  study  of  native  lore;  while  at  the  same  time  the 
archaeological  investigations  of  Max  Uhle  and  the  brilliant 
achievements  of  the  expeditions  headed  by  Hiram  Bingham 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  215 

have   given   a   new   definiteness    to   knowledge   of   pre-Inca 
conditions.5 

It  has  long  been  known  that  Inca  civilization  was  only  the 
last  in  a  series  of  Peruvian  culture  periods.  Back  of  it,  in  the 
highlands,  lay  the  Megalithic  Age,  so  called  from  the  great 
size  of  the  stone  blocks  in  its  cyclopean  masonry,  the  earliest 
centre  of  this  culture  being  supposed  to  have  been  about 
Lake  Titicaca,  and  especially  Tiahuanaco,  at  the  south  of  the 
lake  —  a  site  remarkable  not  only  for  the  most  extraordinary 
of  all  ancient  American  monuments,  the  monolithic  gate  and 
the  surrounding  precincts,  but  also  for  the  importance  ascribed 
to  it  in  legend  as  a  place  of  origin  of  nations.  Other  highland 
centres,  however,  hark  back  to  the  same  period,  and  Cuzco 
itself,  in  old  cyclopean  walls,  shows  evidence  of  an  age  of 
Megalithic  greatness  upon  which  the  later  Inca  civilization 
had  supervened.  Again,  in  the  coastal  region  from  lea  to 
Truxillo  —  the  realms  of  the  Yunca,  according  to  the  older 
chroniclers  —  there  were  several  successive  culture  periods; 
and  though  it  is  possible  that  traditions  such  as  that  of  Naym- 
lap  (see  Chapter  VI,  Section  V)  indicate  a  foreign  origin  for 
the  Yunca  peoples,  in  any  case  their  differing  environment 
would  account  for  much.  The  peoples  of  the  littoral  could 
have  no  herds  of  llamas,  since  the  animal  was  unable  to  live 
in  that  region;  and  hence  they  looked  mainly  to  cotton  for 
their  fabrics,  while  the  sea  gave  them  fair  compensation  in 
the  matter  of  food.  In  the  lesser  arts,  especially  in  that  of 
the  potter,  they  surpassed  the  highlanders  and,  indeed,  all 
other  Americans;  but  their  building  material  was  adobe,  and 
they  have  left  no  magnificent  monuments,  as  have  the  stone- 
workers  of  the  hills.  Nevertheless  at  some  remote,  pre-Inca 
period  the  ideas  of  the  coast  and  those  of  the  highlands  met 
and  interchanged :  the  art  of  Tiahuanaco  is  reflected  in  motive 
at  Truxillo,  while  the  vases  of  Nasca  repeat  the  bizarre  decora- 
tion of  the  monolith  of  Chavin  de  Huantar.  The  hoary  sanctity 
of  the  great  temple  of  Pachacamac  was  such  that  its  Inca 


216  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

conqueror  adopted  the  god  into  his  own  pantheon;  and  it  was 
just  here,  at  the  Yunca  shrine  of  Pachacamac,  that  Uhle 
found  evidence  of  a  series  of  culture  periods  leading  to  a  con- 
siderable antiquity.  The  indigenous  coastal  art  had  already 
passed  its  climax  of  expressive  skill  when  the  influence  of 
Tiahuanaco  appeared;  but  this  influence  lasted  long  enough 
to  leave  an  enduring  impress  on  the  interregnum-like  period 
which  followed,  awaiting,  as  it  were,  the  return  of  the  hills' 
influence,  which  came  with  the  advent  of  the  Inca.  Such,  in 
brief,  is  the  restoration,  and  it  seems  to  fit  remarkably  with 
Bingham's  discoveries  and  with  Montesinos's  lists. 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  two  kings  in  these  lists,  the  last 
ten  form  the  Inca  dynasty  (a  group  with  respect  to  which 
Montesinos  is  in  essential  agreement  with  other  chroniclers), 
whose  beginning  is  placed  1100-1200  A.  D.;  back  of  these  are 
the  twenty-eight  lords  of  Tampu-Tocco;  and  still  earlier  the 
sixty-four  rulers  of  the  ancient  empire,  forty-six  of  them 
forming  the  amauta  (or  priest-king)  dynasty  which  followed 
after  the  primal  line  of  eighteen  Sons  of  the  Gods.  Were  this 
scheme  of  regal  succession  followed  out  in  extenso  the  begin- 
nings of  the  Megalithic  Empire  of  the  highlands  should  fall 
near  the  beginning  of  the  first  millenium  before  Christ,  and  that 
of  the  Tampu  Tocco  dynasty  in  the  early  years  of  our  Era. 
Archaeological  and  other  considerations  lead,  however,  to  esti- 
mates somewhat  more  conservative,  placing  the  culmination 
of  the  early  empire  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era, 
and  the  sojourn  at  Tampu  Tocco  from  about  600— 1 100  A.  D.6 

The  Inca  dynasty,  established  at  Cuzco  toward  1200  A.  D., 
was  the  creator  of  the  great  empire  which  the  Spaniards  found, 
and  its  record  is  the  traditional  history  of  Peru,  recounted  by 
Garcilasso  and  Cieza.  According  to  the  legend,  the  Inca  tribes 
had  come  to  Cuzco  from  a  place  called  Tampu-Tocco,  a  city 
of  refuge  in  an  inaccessible  valley,  where  for  centuries  their 
ancestors  had  lived  in  seclusion,  the  cause  of  the  retirement 
being  as  follows :  in  past  generations,  it  was  said,  the  Amauta 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  217 

dynasty  held  sway  over  a  great  highland  realm,  extending 
from  Tucuman  in  the  south  to  Huanuco  in  the  north,  the 
empire  having  been  formed  perhaps  by  the  earlier  royal  house, 
which  was  called  Pirua,  after  the  name  of  its  first  King.  In 
the  reign  of  the  forty-sixth  Amauta,  there  came  an  invasion  of 
hordes  from  the  south  and  east,  preceded  by  comets,  earth- 
quakes, and  dire  divinations.  The  King  Titu  Yupanqui,  borne 
on  a  golden  litter,  led  his  soldiers  out  to  battle;  he  was  slain  by 
an  arrow,  and  his  discouraged  followers  retreated  with  his  body. 
Cuzco  fell,  and  after  war  came  pestilence,  leaving  city  and 
country  uninhabitable,  while  the  remnants  of  the  Amauta 
people  fled  away  to  Tampu-Tocco,  where  they  established 
themselves,  leaving  at  Cuzco  only  a  few  priests  who  refused 
to  abandon  the  shrine  of  the  Sun.  It  was  said  that  the  art  of 
writing  was  lost  in  this  debacle,  and  that  the  later  art  of  reckon- 
ing by  quipus,  or  knotted  and  coloured  cords,  was  invented  at 
Tampu-Tocco.  Here,  in  a  city  free  from  pests  and  unmoved 
by  earthquakes,  the  Kings  of  Tampu-Tocco  reigned  in  peace, 
going  occasionally  to  Cuzco  to  worship  at  the  ancient  shrine, 
over  which,  with  its  neighborhood,  some  shadowy  authority 
was  preserved.  Finally  a  woman,  Siyu-Yacu,  of  noble  birth 
and  high  ambition,  caused  the  report  to  be  spread  that  her 
son,  Rocca,  had  been  carried  off  to  be  instructed  by  the  Sun 
himself,  and  a  few  days  later  the  youth,  appearing  in  a  garment 
glittering  with  gold,  told  the  people  that  corruption  of  the 
ancient  religion  had  caused  their  fall,  but  that  their  lost  glories 
should  be  restored  to  them  under  his  leadership.  Thus  Rocca 
became  the  first  of  the  Incas,  Cuzco  was  restored  as  capital, 
and  the  new  empire  started  on  a  career  which  was  to  exceed 
the  old  in  grandeur. 

With  the  removal  to  Cuzco,  Tampu-Tocco  became  no  more 
than  a  monumental  shrine  where  priests  and  vestals  preserved 
the  rites  of  the  old  religion  and  watched  over  the  caves  made 
sacred  by  the  bones  of  former  monarchs.  The  native  writer 
Salcamayhua,  who,  like  Garcilasso,  makes  Manco  Capac  the 


2i8  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

founder  of  the  Incas  (Montesinos  regards  Manco  Capac  I  as 
the  first  native-born  king  of  the  Pirua  dynasty),  tells  how 
"at  the  place  of  his  birth  he  ordered  works  to  be  executed, 
consisting  of  a  masonry  wall  with  three  windows,  which  were 
emblems  of  the  house  of  his  fathers,  whence  he  descended"; 
and  the  name  Tampu-Tocco  actually  means  "Tavern  of  the 
Windows,"  windows  being  an  unusual  feature  of  Peruvian 
architecture.  As  the  event  proves,  the  commemorative  wall 
is  still  standing. 

In  1911,  Hiram  Bingham,  the  leader  of  the  expedition  sent 
out  by  Yale  University  and  the  National  Geographical  Society, 
discovered  in  the  wild  valley  of  the  Urubamba,  north  of  Cuzco, 
the  ruins  of  a  mountain-seated  city,  one  of  the  most  wonder- 
ful, and  (in  its  natural  context)  beautiful  ruins  in  the  world. 
Machu  Picchu  the  place  is  called,  and  its  discoverer  identifies 
it  with  the  Tampu-Tocco  of  Inca  tradition.  One  of  its  most 
striking  features  is  a  wall  with  three  great  windows;  it  con- 
tains cave-made  graves  and  temples;  bones  of  the  more  recent 
dead  indicate  that  those  who  last  dwelt  in  it  were  priestesses 
and  priests;  and  it  gives  evidence  of  long  occupation.  The 
more  ancient  stonework  is  the  more  beautiful  in  execution, 
seeming  to  hark  back  to  the  masterpieces  of  Megalithic  civili- 
zation; the  later  portion  is  in  Inca  style.  Especially  interest- 
ing is  the  discovery  of  record  stones,  associated  with  the  older 
period,  indicating  that  an  earlier  method  of  chronology  had 
been  replaced  in  later  times,  for  it  is  to  the  reign  of  the  thir- 
teenth King  of  Tampu-Tocco  that  the  invention  of  quipus  is 
ascribed.  Ideally  placed  as  a  city  of  refuge  in  a  remote  canon, 
so  that  its  very  existence  was  unknown  to  the  Spanish  con- 
querors; seated  on  a  granite  hill  unmoved  by  earthquakes; 
with  its  elaborate  structures  and  complicated  terraces  indi- 
cating generations  of  residence,  Machu  Picchu  represents  the 
connecting  link  between  the  old  and  the  new  empires  in  Peru 
and  gives  a  suddenly  vivid  plausibility  to  the  traditions 
recorded  by  Montesinos. 


PLATE  XXXI 

Sculptured  monolith  from  Chavin  de  Huantar, 
now  in  the  Museum  of  Lima.  The  design  appears 
to  be  a  deity  armed  with  thunderbolts  or  elaborate 
wands,  with  a  monster  head  surmounted  by  an 
elaborate  head-dress.  If  the  figure  be  viewed  re- 
versed the  head-dress  will  be  seen  to  consist  of  a 
series  of  masks  each  pendent  from  the  protruding 
tongue  of  the  mask  above,  a  motive  frequent  in  Nasca 
pottery  (cf.  Plate  XXXII).  The  figure  strongly 
suggests  the  central  image  of  the  Tiahuanaco  mono- 
lithic gateway,  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that  serpent 
heads,  from  the  girdle,  the  rays  of  the  head-dress, 
and  in  the  caduceus-like  termination  of  the  head- 
dress, take  the  place  of  the  puma,  fish  and  condor 
accessories  of  the  Tiahuanaco  monument.  The  re- 
lationship of  this  deity  to  those  represented  on 
Plates  XXXII,  XXXIII,  XXXIV,  XXXV,  and 
XXXVII,  is  scarcely  to  be  doubted.  Markham, 
Incas  of  Peru,  page  34. 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  219 

Thus,  in  shadowy  fashion,  the  cycles  of  Andean  civilization 
are  restored.  There  are  two  great  regions,  the  highland  and 
the  littoral,  Inca  and  Yunca,  each  with  a  long  history.  The 
primitive  fisher-families  of  the  coast  gave  way  to  a  civili- 
zation which  may  have  received  its  impetus,  as  traditions 
indicate,  from  tribes  sailing  southward  in  great  balsas,  at 
any  rate  it  had  developed,  doubtless  before  the  Christian  era, 
important  and  characteristic  culture  centres  —  Truxillo  in  the 
north,  Nasca  to  the  south  —  and  great  shrines,  Pachacamac 
and  Rimac,  venerable  to  the  Incas;  while  long  after  its  own 
acme,  and  long  before  the  Inca  conquest,  the  coastal  civiliza- 
tion had  had  important  commerce  with  the  ancient  culture 
of  the  highlands.  The  origin  of  the  pre-Inca  empire  from  the 
Megalithic  culture  of  Tiahuanaco  leads  back  toward  the 
middle  of  the  first  millemum  B.  c.,  perhaps  to  dimly  remote 
centuries.  It  passed  its  floruit,  marked  by  the  rise  of  Cuzco 
as  a  great  capital,  and  then  followed  barbarian  migrations 
and  wars;  the  retirement  of  a  defeated  handful  to  Tampu- 
Tocco;  a  long  period  of  decline;  and  finally,  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century,  a  renaissance  of  culture,  marked 
by  a  religious  reform  amounting  to  a  new  dispensation  and 
stamping  the  revived  power  as  essentially  ecclesiastical  in 
its  claims,  —  for  all  Inca  conquests  were  undertaken  with  a 
Crusader's  plea  for  the  expansion  of  the  faith  in  the  benefi- 
cent Sun  and  for  the  spread  of  knowledge  of  the  Way  of  Life 
revealed  through  his  children,  the  Inca. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  resemblance  be- 
tween the  development  of  this  civilization  and  that  of  Europe 
during  the  same  period.  Cuzco  and  Rome  rise  to  empire 
simultaneously;  the  ancient  civilizations  of  Tiahuanaco,  Nasca, 
and  Truxillo,  excelling  the  new  power  in  art,  but  inferior  in 
power  of  organization  and  engineering  works,  are  the  American 
equivalents  of  Greece  and  the  Orient.  Almost  synchronously, 
Rome  and  Cuzco  fall  before  barbarian  invasions;  and  in  each 
case  centuries  follow  which  can  only  be  known  as  dark,  during 


220  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

which  the  empire  breaks  in  chaos.  Finally,  both  civilizations 
rise,  again  during  the  same  period,  as  leaders  in  a  new  move- 
ment in  religion,  animated  by  a  crusading  zeal  and  basing 
their  authority  upon  divine  will.  It  is  true  that  Rome  does 
not  attain  the  material  power  that  was  restored  to  Cuzco, 
but  Christendom,  at  least,  does  attain  this  power.  Such  is 
the  picture,  —  though  it  must  be  added  that  in  the  present 
state  of  knowledge  it  is  plausible  restoration  only,  not  proven 
truth. 

II.    THE  YUNCA  PANTHEONS 

It  is  not  possible  to  reconstruct  in  any  detail  the  religions 
and  mythologies  of  the  pre-Inca  civilizations  of  the  central 
Andes,  but  of  the  four  culture  centres  which  have  been  most 
studied  some  traits  are  decipherable.  Two  of  these  centres 
are  montane,  two  coastal.  Of  the  former,  the  Megalithic 
highland  civilization,  whose  first  home  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  region  of  Lake  Titicaca,  is  assuredly  ancient;  the 
civilization  of  the  Calchaqui,  to  the  south  of  this,  was  a  late 
conquest  of  the  Incas  and  was  doubtless  a  contemporary  of 
Inca  culture.  On  the  coast,  the  Yunca  developed  in  two 
branches,  both,  apparently,  as  ancient  as  the  Megalithic  cul- 
ture, and  both,  again,  late  conquests  of  the  Incas.  To  the 
north,  extending  from  Tumbez  to  Paramunca,  with  Chimu 
(Truxillo)  as  its  capital,  was  the  realm  of  the  Grand  Chimu 
—  a  veritable  empire,  for  it  comprised  some  twenty  coastal 
valleys  —  while  the  twelve  adjoining  southern  valleys,  from 
Chancay  to  Nasca,  were  the  seat  of  the  Chincha  Confederacy, 
a  loose  political  organization  with  a  characteristic  culture  of 
its  own,  though  clearly  akin  to  that  of  the  Chimu  region.  All 
these  centres  having  fallen  under  the  sway  of  conquerors  with 
a  creed  to  impose  (the  Incas  even  erected  a  shrine  to  the  Sun 
on  the  terraces  of  oracular  Pachacamac),  their  religious  tradi- 
tions were  waning  in  importance  in  the  time  of  the  conquis- 
tadores,  who,  unhappily,  secured  little  of  the  lore  that  might 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH 


221 


have  been  salved  in  their  own  day.  There  are  fragments  for 
the  Chimu  region  in  Balboa  and  Calancha,  for  the  Chincha 
in  Arriaga  and  Avila;  but  in  the  main  it  is  upon  the  monu- 
ments —  vases,  burials,  ruins  of  temples  —  that,  in  any  effort 
to  define  the  beliefs  of  these  departed  peoples,  we  must  depend 
for  a  supplementation  of  the  meagre  notices  recorded  in  Inca 
tradition  or  preserved  by  the  early  chroniclers.7 

Fortunately  these  monuments  permit  of  some  interesting 
guesses  which,  surely,  are  no  unjustified  indulgence  of  human 
curiosity  when  the  mute  expression  of  dead  souls  is  their 
matter;  and  in  particular  the  wonderful  drawings  of  the 
Truxillo  and  Nasca  vases  and  the  woven  figures  of  their  fabrics 
suggest  analogical  interpretation.  Despite  their  family  like- 
ness, the  styles  of  the  two  regions  are  distinct;  and,  as  the 
investigations  of  Uhle  show,  they  have  undergone  long  and 
changing  developments,  with  apogees  well  in  the  past.  The 
zenith  of  Chimu  art  was  marked  by  a  variety  and  naturalism 
of  design  rivaled,  if  at  all  in  America,  only  by  the  best  Maya 
achievements;  while  Chincha  expression  realized  its  acme  in 
polychrome  designs  truly  marvellous  in  complexity  of  con- 
vention. That  the  art  of  both  regions  is  profoundly  mytho- 
logical is  obvious  from  the  portrayals. 

Striking  features  of  this  Yunca  art  are  the  monster-forms8 
-  man-bird,  man-beast,  man-fish,  man-reptile  —  and,  again, 
the  multiplication  of  faces  or  masks,  both  of  men  and  of 
animals.  The  repetition  of  the  human  countenance  is  especially 
frequent  in  the  art  of  Nasca,  where  series  of  masks  are  often 
enchained  in  complex  designs,  one  most  grotesque  form  of 
this  concatenation  representing  a  series  of  masks  issuing,  as 
it  were,  from  the  successive  mouths,  and  joined  by  the  pro- 
truding tongues.  Again,  there  are  dragon-like  or  serpentine 
monsters  having  a  head  at  each  extremity,  recalling  not  only 
the  two-headed  serpent  of  Aztec  and  Maya  art,  but  also  the 
Sisiutl  of  the  North-West  Coast  of  North  America  —  a  region 
whose  art,  also,  furnishes  an  impressive  analogue,  in  complexity 


222  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

of  convention,  to  that  of  the  Yunca.  Frequently,  in  Nasca 
art,  the  fundamental  design  is  a  man-headed  bird,  or  fish,  or 
serpent,  whose  body  and  accoutrements  are  complexly  adorned 
with  representations  of  the  heads  or  forms  of  other  animals 
—  the  puma,  for  example,  or  even  the  mouse.  Oftentimes 
heads,  apparently  decapitations,  are  borne  in  the  hands  of  the 
central  figure;  and  on  one  Truxillo  vase  there  is  a  depiction9 
of  what  is  surely  a  ceremonial  dance  in  which  the  participants 
are  masked  and  disguised  as  birds  and  animals;  the  remark- 
able Nasca  robes  in  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  (see 
Plates  XXXI,  XXXII,  XXXIII,  XXXIV)  also  suggest 
masked  forms,  the  representations  of  the  same  personage  vary- 
ing in  colour  and  in  the  arrangement  of  facial  design. 

The  heads  which  are  held  in  the  hands  and  which  adorn  the 
costumes  of  these  figures  are  regarded  by  some  authorities  as 
trophy  heads,  remotely  related,  perhaps,  to  those  which  are 
prepared  as  tokens  of  prowess  by  some  of  the  Brazilian  tribes; 
and,  in  fact,  the  discovery  of  the  decapitated  mummies  of 
women  and  girls,  buried  in  the  guano  deposits  of  the  sacred 
islands  of  Guafiape  and  Macabi,  points  to  a  remote  period 
when  human  sacrifices  were  made,  perhaps  to  a  marine  power, 
and  certainly  connected  with  some  superstition  as  to  the 
head.  Another  suggestion,  however,  will  account  for  a  greater 
variety  of  the  forms.  The  dances  with  animal  masks  irre- 
sistibly recall  the  ancestral  and  totemic  masked  dances  of 
such  peoples  as  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  North  America  and 
of  the  tribes  of  the  North-West  Coast;  the  figures  of  bird- 
men,  fish-men,  and  snake-men,  with  their  bodies  ornamented 
with  other  animal  figures,  are  again  reminiscent  of  the  totemic 
emblems  of  the  far  North-West;  and  surely  no  image  is  better 
adapted  to  suggest  the  descent  of  a  series  of  generations  from 
an  ancestral  hero  than  the  sequence  of  tongue-joined  masks 
figured  on  the  Nasca  vases,  each  generation  receiving  its 
name,  as  it  were,  from  the  mouth  of  the  preceding.  The 
recurrence  of  certain  constant  designs,  both  on  vases  and  in 


PLATE  XXXII 

Polychrome  vase  from  the  Nasca  valley,  showing 
the  multi-headed  deity  represented  also  by  Plate 
XXXI.  The  succession  of  masks  connected  by 
protruded  tongues  is  a  striking  form  of  Nasca 
design.  Examples  are  found  elsewhere,  even  into 
Calchaqui  territory.  The  vase  here  pictured  is  in 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  223 

fabrics,  is  at  least  analogous  to  the  use  of  totemic  signs  on 
garments  and  utensils  in  the  region  of  the  North-West  Coast. 

It  is  certain  that  ancestor-worship  was  an  important  feature 
of  Yunca  religion,  for  Arriaga,  speaking  of  the  Chincha  peoples, 
says  that  for  festivals  they  gathered  in  ayllus  (tribes  or  clans), 
each  with  mummies  of  its  kinsfolk  to  which  were  offered 
vases,  clothes,  plumes,  and  the  like.  They  had  household  gods 
(called  Conopa  or  Huasi-camayoc),  as  distinguished  from  the 
communal  deities,  which  were  of  several  classes;  more  than 
three  thousand  of  these  Conopas  it  is  said,  were  destroyed 
by  the  Spaniards.  Garcilasso  informs  us  that  each  coastal 
province  worshipped  a  special  kind  of  fish,  "telling  a  pleasant 
tale  to  the  effect  that  the  First  of  all  the  Fish  dwells  in  the 
sky"  —  a  statement  which  is  certainly  in  tone  with  a  totemic 
interpretation. 

In  addition  to  the  special  idols  of  each  province,  says  Garci- 
lasso,10 all  the  peoples  of  the  littoral  from  Truxillo  to  Tarapaca 
adored  the  ocean  in  the  form  of  a  fish,  out  of  gratitude  for 
the  food  that  it  yielded,  naming  it  Mama  Cocha  ("Mother 
Sea");  and  it  is  indeed  plausible  that  the  Food-Giver  of  the 
Sea  was  a  great  deity  in  this  region,  although  some  of  the 
Truxillo  vases  seem  to  indicate  that  the  ocean  was  also  re- 
garded as  the  abode  of  dread  and  inimical  monsters,  since 
they  portray  the  conflicts  of  men  or  heroes  with  crustacean 
and  piscine  monsters  of  the  deep.  Antonio  de  la  Calancha, 
who  was  prior  of  the  Augustines  at  Truxillo  in  1619,  gives  a 
brief  account  of  the  Chimu  pantheon.11  The  Ocean  (Ni)  and 
the  earth  (Vis)  were  worshipped,  prayers  being  offered  to  the 
one  for  fish  and  to  the  other  for  good  harvests.  The  great 
deity,  however,  was  the  Moon  (Si),  to  which  sacrifices  of 
children  were  sometimes  made;  and  this  heavenly  body,  re- 
garded as  ruler  of  the  elements  and  bringer  of  tempests,  was 
held  to  be  more  powerful  than  the  Sun.  Possibly  the  crescent- 
or  knife-shaped  symbol  which  appears  on  the  head-gear  of 
vase  representations  of  chieftains,  in  Truxillo  ware,  is  a  token  of 


224  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

this  cult,  which  finds  a  parallel  among  the  Araucanians  of  the 
far  south,  among  whom,  too,  the  Moon,  not  the  Sun,  is  the 
lofty  deity. 

The  language  of  the  subjects  of  the  Grand  Chimu  was 
Mochica,  which  was  unrelated  to  any  other  in  Peru;  but 
though  they  regarded  the  Quichua-speaking  Chincha  as 
hereditary  enemies,  the  religious  conceptions  of  the  two 
groups  were  not  very  different.  In  Arriaga's  account,12  the 
Chincha  worshipped  the  Earth  (Mama  Pacha)  as  well  as 
Mama  Cocha  (the  Sea) ;  and  they  also  venerated  the  "Mamas," 
or  Mothers,  of  maize  and  cacao.  There  were  likewise  tutelary 
deities  for  their  several  villages  —  just  as  each  family  had  its 
Penates  —  and  Garcilasso  states  that  the  god  Chincha  Camac 
was  adored  as  the  creator  and  guardian  of  all  the  Chincha. 
The  worship  of  stones  in  fields  and  stones  in  irrigating  channels 
is  also  mentioned  (both  for  Chimu  and  for  Chincha),  and 
these  may  well  have  been  in  the  nature  of  herms  in  valleys 
where  fields  were  narrowly  limited;  while  in  addition  there 
were  innumerable  huacas  —  sacred  places,  fetishes,  oracles, 
idols,  and,  in  short,  anything  marvellous,  for  Garcilasso,  in 
explaining  the  meaning  of  the  word,  says  that  it  was  applied 
to  everything  exciting  wonder,  from  the  great  gods  and  the 
peaks  of  the  Andes  to  the  birth  of  twins  and  the  occurrence 
of  hare-lip.  It  is  in  this  connexion  that  he  speaks  of  "sepul- 
chres made  in  the  fields  or  at  the  corners  of  their  houses, 
where  the  devil  spoke  to  them  familiarly,"  a  description  sug- 
gestive of  ancestral  shrines;  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
word  huaca  is  most  properly  applied  in  that  sense  in  which 
it  has  survived,  to  tombs. 

In  Chincha  territory  were  located  the  two  great  shrines  of 
Rimac  and  Pachacamac,  whose  oracles  even  the  Incas  courted. 
Rimac,  says  Garcilasso,  signifies  "He  who  Speaks";  he  adds 
that  the  valley  was  called  Rimac  from  "an  idol  there,  in  the 
shape  of  a  man,  which  spoke  and  gave  answers  to  questions, 
like  the  oracle  of  the  Delphic  Apollo";  and  Lima,  which  is  in 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  225 

the  valley  of  Rimac,  receives  its  appellation  from  a  corruption 
of  this  name.  A  greater  shrine,  however,  and  an  older  oracle 
was  Pachacamac.  According  to  Garcilasso,  the  word  means 
"Maker  and  Sustainer  of  the  Universe"  (pacha,  "earth," 
camac,  "maker");  and  he  is  of  opinion  that  the  worship  of 
this  divinity  originated  with  the  Incas,  who,  nevertheless, 
regarded  the  god  as  invisible  and  hence  built  him  no  temples 
and  offered  him  no  sacrifices,  but  "adored  him  inwardly  with 
the  greatest  veneration."  Markham  (not  very  convincingly) 
identifies  Pachacamac  with  the  great  fish-deity  of  the  coast, 
considering  him  as  a  supplanter  of  the  older  and  purer  deity, 
Viracocha. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  coastal  myths,  quoted  by  Uhle, 
tells  how  Pachacamac,  having  created  a  man  and  a  woman, 
failed  to  provide  them  with  food;  but  when  the  man  died,  the 
woman  was  aided  by  the  Sun,  who  gave  her  a  son  and  taught 
the  pair  to  live  upon  wild  fruits.  Angered  at  this  interference, 
Pachacamac  killed  the  youth,  from  whose  buried  body  sprang 
maize  and  other  cultivated  plants;  the  Sun  gave  the  woman 
another  son,  Wichama,  whereupon  Pachacamac  slew  the 
mother;  while  Wichama,  in  revenge,  pursued  Pachacamac, 
driving  him  into  the  sea,  and  thereafter  burning  up  the  lands 
in  passion,  transformed  men  into  stones.  This  legend  has 
been  interpreted  as  a  symbol  of  the  seasons,  but  it  is  evident 
that  its  elements  belong  to  wide-spread  American  cycles,  for 
the  mother  and  son  suggest  the  Chibcha  goddess,  Bachue, 
while  the  formation  of  cultivated  plants  from  the  body  of  the 
slain  youth  is  a  familiar  element  in  myths  of  the  tropical 
forests  and,  indeed,  in  both  Americas.  From  the  story  it  is 
clear  that  Pachacamac  is  a  creator  god,  antagonistic  (if  not 
superior)  to  the  Sun,  who  seems  to  supplant  him  in  power; 
but  surely  it  is  anomalous  that  the  Earth-Maker  should  find 
his  end  by  being  driven  into  the  sea  unless,  indeed,  Pachaca- 
mac, spouse  of  Mother  Sea,  be  the  embodied  Father  Heaven, 
descending  in  fog  and  damp  and  driven  seaward  by  the  dis- 


226  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

polling  Sun.  Such  an  interpretation  would  make  Pachacamac 
simply  a  local  form  of  Viracocha;  and  this,  certainly,  is  sug- 
gested in  the  descriptions,  by  Garcilasso  and  others,  of  the 
reverence  paid  to  this  divinity. 

From  Francisco  de  Avila's  account 13  of  the  myths  of  the 
Huarochiri,  in  the  valley  of  the  Rimac,  "we  may  infer  that 
Viracocha  was  known  to  the  Chincha  tribes,  at  one  period 
probably  as  a  supreme  god.  An  idol  called  Coniraya  (mean- 
ing according  to  Markham,  "Pertaining  to  Heat")  they  ad- 
dressed as  "Coniraya  Viracocha,"  saying,  "Thou  art  Lord  of 
all;  thine  are  the  crops,  and  thine  are  all  the  people";  and  in 
every  toil  and  difficulty  they  invoked  this  deity  for  aid. 

One  of  the  decorative  designs  that  occurs  and  recurs  on  the 
vases  of  both  the  Chimu  and  Chincha  regions  —  in  the  char- 
acteristic style  of  each  —  is  the  plumed  serpent.  What  is 
apparently  a  modification  of  this  is  the  man-headed  serpent, 
or  the  warrior  with  a  serpent's  or  dragon's  tail,  a  further 
modification  representing  the  man  or  deity  as  holding  the 
serpent  in  one  hand,  while  frequently,  in  the  other  hand,  is  a 
symbolic  staff  or  weapon  that  in  certain  forms  is  startlingly 
like  the  classical  thunderbolt  in  the  hand  of  Jove.  Another 
step  shows  only  the  serpent's  head  held  in  the  one  hand,  while 
the  staff,  or  thunderbolt,  is  made  prominent;  and,  finally,  in 
the  style  known  as  that  of  Tiahuanaco,  from  its  resemblance 
to  the  ancient  art  of  the  highlands,  a  squat  deity,  holding  a 
winged  or  snake-headed  wand  in  each  hand  gives  the  counterfeit 
presentment  of  the  central  figure  on  the  Tiahuanaco  arch  and 
the  monolith  of  Chavin.  In  Central  and  North  America  the 
plumed  serpent  is  a  sky-symbol,  associated  with  rainbow, 
lightning,  rain,  and  weather;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  follow 
the  guesses  hitherto  ventured  that  this  cycle  of  images,  ap- 
pearing in  various  forms  in  the  different  periods  of  Yunca  art, 
is  intimately  associated  with  the  ancient  and  nearly  universal 
Jovis  Pater  of  America  —  Father  Sky.  As  in  the  old  world,  the 
eagle,  so  in  South  America  the  condor  and  the  falcon  are  the 


PLATE  XXXIII 

Embroidered  figure  from  a  Nasca  robe  in  the 
Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts.  Nasca  fabrics  repre- 
sent the  highest  achievement  in  textile  art  of  aborig- 
inal America.  Figures  of  the  type  here  shown  are 
repeated  with  minor  variations,  each,  no  doubt,  of 
symbolic  significance,  in  a  chequered  or  "all-over" 
design.  The  deity  represented  may  be  totemic, 
but  obviously  belongs  to  the  same  group  as  those 
shown  in  such  pottery  paintings  as  are  represented 
in  Plates  XXXII  and  XXXIV. 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  227 

especial  ministers  of  this  deity;  as  also  are  the  most  powerful 
of  the  beasts  of  prey  known  in  the  region  —  the  puma,  or  moun- 
tain lion;  and,  again,  a  fish,  which  we  may  suppose  to  typify 
lordship  over  the  waters,  as  the  condor  and  lion  symbolize 
dominion  over  air  and  earth.  Thus,  as  it  were,  through  their 
grotesque  masks  and  gorgeous  fantasies,  the  pots  and  jars  of 
the  Yunca  peoples  mutely  attest  the  universal  reverence  of 
mankind  for  the  great  powers  of  Nature. 

III.    THE  MYTHS  OF  THE  CHINCHA 

What  were  the  tales  which  the  Yunca  peoples  told  of  their 
gods?  The  little  that  we  know  is  almost  wholly  due  to  the 
unfinished  manuscript  of  Francisco  de  Avila,14  composed  in 
1608;  but  brief  and  fragmentary  though  this  treatise  be,  ending 
abruptly  with  the  heading  of  a  Chapter  VIII,  which  was 
never  written,  it  throws  a  curiously  suggestive  light  upon  the 
archaeological  discoveries  of  our  own  day,  with  their  revela- 
tion of  successive  civilizations  and  successive  cults  in  the 
coastal  valleys. 

Avila's  narrative  tells  of  a  series  of  ages  of  the  gods,  each 
marked  by  its  new  ruler,  which  he  confesses  he  did  not  well 
comprehend  because  of  the  contradictoriness  of  the  legends. 
At  all  events,  however,  in  the  most  ancient  period  there  were 
"certain  huacas,  or  idols,  .  .  .  supposed  to  have  walked  in  the 
form  of  men.  These  huacas  were  called  Yananamca  Intanamca ; 
and  in  a  certain  encounter  they  had  with  another  huaca,  called 
Huallallo  Caruincho,  they  were  conquered  and  destroyed  by  the 
said  Huallallo,  who  remained  as  Lord  and  God  of  the  land. 
He  ordered  that  no  woman  should  bring  forth  more  than  two 
children,  of  which  one  was  to  be  sacrificed  for  him  to  eat, 
and  the  other,  —  whichever  of  the  two  the  parents  chose,  — 
might  be  brought  up.  It  was  also  a  tradition  that,  in  those 
days,  all  who  died  were  brought  to  life  again  on  the  fifth  day; 
and  that  what  was  sown  in  that  land  also  sprouted,  grew,  and 


228  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ripened  on  the  fifth  day;  and  that  all  these  three  provinces 
[Huarochiri,  Mama,  Chaclla]  were  then  a  very  hot  country, 
which  the  Indians  call  Yunca  or  Ande"  The  last  allusion 
probably  refers  to  some  recollection  of  a  migration  from  the 
coast,  for  the  Huarochiri  region  is  in  the  highlands  drained 
by  the  Rimac  and  Lurin  rivers. 

The  story  goes  on  to  record  the  overthrow  of  Huallallo  by 
another  hero-god,  Pariacaca;  but  before  narrating  this  event, 
Avila  turns  aside  to  tell  the  tale  of  Coniraya  Viracocha,  whom 
he  regards  as  certainly  a  great  deity  at  one  time,  though 
whether  before  or  after  the  rise  of  Pariacaca  is  not  evident. 

In  ancient  times  Coniraya  appeared  as  a  poor  Indian, 
clothed  in  rags  and  reviled  by  all.  Nevertheless,  he  was  the 
creator  of  all  things,  at  whose  command  terraces  arose  to 
support  the  fields  and  channels  were  formed  to  irrigate  them 
—  feats  which  he  accomplished  by  merely  hurling  his  hollow 
cane.  He  was  also  all-wise  with  respect  to  gods  and  oracles, 
and  the  thoughts  of  others  were  open  to  him.  This  Coniraya 
fell  in  love  with  a  certain  virgin,  Cavillaca;  and  as  she  sat 
weaving  beneath  a  lucma-tree,  he  dropped  near  her  a  ripe 
fruit,  containing  his  own  generative  seed.  Eating  the  fruit 
unsuspectingly,  she  became  with  child;  and  when  the  babe 
was  old  enough  to  crawl,  she  assembled  all  "the  huacas  and 
principal  idols  of  the  land,"  determined  to  discover  the  child's 
father;  but  as,  to  her  amazement  and  disgust,  the  infant 
crawled  to  the  beggar-like  Coniraya,  she  snatched  it  up  and 
fled  away  toward  the  sea.  "But  Coniraya  Viracocha  desired 
the  friendship  and  favour  of  the  goddess;  so,  when  he  saw 
her  take  flight,  he  put  on  magnificent  golden  robes,  and 
leaving  the  astonished  assembly  of  the  gods,  he  ran  after  her, 
crying  out:  '0  my  lady  Cavillaca,  turn  your  eyes  and  see  how 
handsome  and  gallant  am  I,'  with  other  loving  and  courteous 
words ;  and  they  say  that  his  splendour  illuminated  the  whole 
country."  But  Cavillaca  only  increased  her  speed,  and  plun- 
ging into  the  sea,  mother  and  child  were  transformed  into 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  229 

two  rocks,  still  to  be  seen.  Coniraya,  distanced,  kept  on  his 
quest.  He  met  a  condor,  and  the  condor  having  promised 
him  success  in  his  pursuit,  he  gave  the  condor  the  promise  of 
long  life,  power  to  traverse  wildernesses  and  valleys,  and  the 
right  to  prey;  and  upon  those  who  should  slay  the  condor  he  set 
the  curse  of  death.  Next  he  met  a  fox,  but  the  fox  told  him  his 
quest  was  vain;  so  he  cursed  the  fox,  telling  it  that  it  must  hunt 
at  night  and  be  slain  by  men.  The  lion  next  promised  him  well, 
and  he  gave  the  lion  power  over  prey  and  honour  among  men. 
The  falcon  was  similarly  blessed  for  fair  promises,  and  parrots 
cursed  for  their  ill  omen.  Arrived  at  the  seaside,  Coniraya 
discovered  the  vanity  of  his  pursuit,  but  he  was  easily  con- 
soled; for  on  the  beach  he  met  two  daughters  of  Pachacamac. 
In  the  absence  of  their  mother,  who  was  visiting  Cavillaca 
in  the  sea,  they  were  guarded  by  a  great  serpent,  but 
Coniraya  quieted  the  serpent  by  his  wisdom.  One  of  the 
maidens  flew  away  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  —  whence  their 
mother  was  called  Urpihuachac,  "Mother  of  Doves";  but  the 
other  was  more  complaisant.  "In  those  days  it  is  said  that 
there  were  no  fishes  in  the  sea,  but  that  this  Urpihuachac 
reared  a  few  in  a  small  pond.  Coniraya  was  enraged  that 
Urpihuachac  should  be  absent  in  the  sea,  visiting  Cavillaca; 
so  he  emptied  the  fishes  out  of  her  pond  into  the  sea,  and 
thence  all  the  fishes  now  in  the  sea  have  been  propagated." 

That  Coniraya  is  a  deity  of  sun  or  sky  appears  evident  from 
this  tale;  and  he  is,  clearly,  at  the  same  time  a  demiurgic 
transformer,  with  not  a  little  of  the  mere  trickster  about  him. 
The  condor,  falcon,  and  lion  are  his  servants  and  beneficiaries; 
foxes  and  parrots  are  his  antipathies;  he  has  something  to  do 
with  the  provision  of  fish,  and  he  conquers  the  serpent  of  the 
sea-goddess.  Avila  says  that  the  tradition  is  rooted  in  the 
customs  of  the  province:  the  people  venerate  the  condor, 
which  they  never  kill,  as  also  the  lion;  they  have  a  horror  of 
the  fox,  slaying  it  where  they  can;  "as  to  the  falcon,  there  is 
scarcely  a  festival  in  which  one  does  not  appear  on  the  heads 


230  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

of  the  dancers  and  singers;  and  we  all  know  that  they  detest 
the  parrots,  which  is  not  wonderful  considering  the  mischief 
they  do,  though  their  chief  reason  is  to  comply  with  the  tradi- 
tion." 

Cataclysmic  events  which  apparently  followed  the  deeds  of 
the  Demiurge  were  a  five-day  deluge,  in  which  all  men  were 
destroyed  save  one  who  was  led  by  a  speaking  llama  to  a 
mountain  height  where  he  was  safe;  and  a  five-day  darkness, 
during  which  stones  knocked  together,  while  both  the  stones 
with  which  they  ground  grain  and  the  animals  of  their  herds 
arose  against  their  masters.  It  was  after  these  cataclysms,  in 
the  days  when  there  were  as  yet  no  kings,  that  five  eggs  ap- 
peared on  a  certain  mountain,  called  Condor-coto :  round  them 
a  wind  blew,  for  until  that  time  there  had  been  no  wind.  These 
eggs  were  the  birth-place  of  Pariacaca  and  his  four  brothers; 
but  before  the  hero  had  come  forth  from  his  egg,  one  of  his 
brothers,  a  great  and  rich  lord,  built  his  house  on  Anchicocha, 
adorning  it  with  the  red  and  yellow  feathers  of  certain  birds. 
This  lord  had  llamas  whose  natural  wool  was  of  brilliant 
colours  —  some  red,  some  blue,  some  yellow  —  so  that  it  was 
unnecessary  to  dye  it  for  weaving;  but  notwithstanding  he 
was  very  wise,  and  even  pretended  to  be  God,  the  Creator, 
misfortune  befell  him  in  the  form  of  a  disgusting  disease  of 
which  he  was  unable  to  cure  himself,  though  he  sought  aid 
in  every  direction.  Now  at  this  time  there  was  a  poor  and  ill- 
clad  Indian  named  Huathiacuri,  "who,  they  say,  was  a  son  of 
Pariacaca  and  who  learned  many  arts  from  his  father,"  whom, 
in  his  egg,  he  visited  in  search  of  advice.  This  youth,  having 
fallen  in  love  with  a  daughter  of  the  rich  man,  one  day  over- 
heard foxes  conversing  about  the  great  lord's  illness.  "The 
real  cause,"  said  a  fox,  "is  that,  when  his  wife  was  toasting  a 
little  maize,  one  grain  fell  on  her  skirt,  as  happens  every  day. 
She  gave  it  to  a  man  who  ate  it,  and  afterward  she  committed 
adultery  with  him.  This  is  the  reason  that  the  rich  man  is  sick, 
and  a  serpent  is  now  hovering  over  his  beautiful  house  to  eat 


PLATE  XXXIV 

Vase  from  Nasca  representing  a  deity  with 
serpentiform  body.  The  commonest  motive  in 
Nasca  designs  is  the  multiplication,  in  grotesque 
forms,  of  human  masks.  The  deity  here  represented 
is  commonly  shown  with  a  mask  head-dress,  masks 
upon  either  cheek,  with  a  girdle  of  masks  or  trophy 
heads,  and  with  masks  elsewhere;  while  either  the 
body  is  shown  as  serpentiform  or  serpent-like  wands 
are  wielded  by  the  hands.  It  is  probable  that  a 
sky-god  is  represented,  possibly  a  local  form  of 
Viracocha.  Compare  Plates  XXXI,  XXXVI, 
XXXVII.  The  vase  pictured  is  in  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History. 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  231 

it,  while  a  toad  with  two  heads  is  waiting  under  his  grinding- 
stone  with  the  same  object."  When  Huathiacuri  learned  this, 
he  told  the  girl  that  he  knew  the  cure  for  her  parent's  malady; 
and  though  she  did  not  believe  him,  she  informed  her  father, 
who  had  the  young  man  brought  before  him.  Promised  the 
price  he  demanded  —  the  maiden's  hand  —  the  youth  re- 
vealed her  mother's  iniquity  and  gave  orders  to  kill  two  ser- 
pents, which  were  found  in  the  roof,  as  well  as  a  two-headed 
toad,  which  hopped  forth  when  the  grind  ing-stone  was  lifted. 
After  this  the  rich  man  became  well,  and  Huathiacuri  received 
his  bride.  The  sister  of  this  girl,  however,  was  married  to  a 
man  who,  resenting  so  beggarly  a  person  in  the  family  as 
Huathiacuri,  challenged  the  latter  to  a  series  of  contests  — 
first,  to  a  drinking-bout;  next,  to  a  match  in  splendour  of 
costume,  at  which  the  youth  appeared  in  a  dress  of  snow; 
then  to  a  dance,  in  lions'  skins,  wherein  he  won  because  of  a 
rainbow  that  appeared  round  the  head  of  the  magic  lion's 
skin  which  he  wore;  and,  finally,  to  a  contest  in  house-build- 
ing, wherein  all  the  animals  aided  him  at  night.  Thus  having 
vanquished  his  brother-in-law,  Huathiacuri  in  turn  issued  a 
challenge  to  a  dance,  ending  it  in  a  wild  race  during  which  he 
transformed  the  brother-in-law  into  a  deer  and  his  wife  into 
rock.  The  deer  lived  for  some  time  by  devouring  people,  but 
finally  deer  began  to  be  eaten  by  men,  not  men  by  deer. 
Subsequent  to  all  this,  Pariacaca  and  his  brothers  issued  from 
the  eggs,  causing  a  great  tempest  in  which  the  rich  man  and 
his  house  were  swept  into  the  sea.  Pariacaca  is  also  said  to 
have  destroyed  by  a  torrent  a  village  of  revellers  who  refused 
him  drink  when  he  appeared  among  them  as  a  thirsty  beggar, 
all  but  one  girl  who  took  pity  upon  him;  and  there  is  a  story 
of  his  love  for  Choque  Suso,  a  maiden  whom  he  found  in  tears 
beside  her  withering  maize-fields  and  for  whom  he  opened 
an  irrigation-channel,  converting  the  girl  herself  into  a  stone 
which  still  guards  the  headwaters.  After  this,  in  Avila's  nar- 
rative, comes  a  heading:  "How  the  Indians  of  the  Ayllu  of 


232  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Copara  still  worship  Cheque  Suso  and  this  channel,  a  fact 
which  I  know  not  only  from  their  stories,  but  also  from  judi- 
cial depositions  which  I  have  taken  on  the  subject"  —  and 
there  the  manuscript  abruptly  ends. 

Nevertheless,  this  fragment  has  given  us  enough  to  see,  if 
not  the  system,  at  least  the  character  of  Chincha  mythology. 
There  are  the  generations  of  the  elder  gods,  with  transforma- 
tions and  cataclysms.  There  are  the  cosmic  eggs  —  perhaps 
earth's  centre  and  the  four  winds  symbolized  in  the  five  of 
them.  There  is  the  toad-symbol  of  the  underworld,  and  the 
serpent-symbol  of  the  sky-world.  The  Rich  Man,  in  his  house 
of  red  and  yellow  feathers,  is  surely  a  sky-being  —  perhaps 
a  sun-god,  perhaps  a  lunar  divinity  whose  ceaseless  crescence 
and  senescence,  to  and  from  its  glory,  may  be  imaged  in  his 
cureless  disease.  Pariacaca  is  clearly  a  deity  of  waters,  prob- 
ably a  divine  mountain,  giving  rain  and  irrigating  streams, 
and  clothing  his  son  in  the  snow  and  the  rainbow;  while  the 
women  —  Cavillaca,  and  the  Mother  of  Doves,  and  Cheque 
Suso,  the  Nymph  of  the  Channel  —  who  were  turned  into 
rocks  speak  again  the  hoary  sanctity  of  these  images  of  per- 
durability. 

IV.    VIRACOCHA  AND  TONAPA 

The  Yunca  peoples,  both  Chimu  and  Chincha,  recalled  a 
time  when  their  ancestors  entered  the  coastal  valleys  to  make 
them  their  own,  "destroying  the  former  inhabitants,  ...  a 
vile  and  feeble  race,"  as  Chincha  tradition  has  it.  In  the 
uplands  the  followers  of  the  Scyris  of  Quito  were  remembered 
as  coming  from  the  littoral;  but  for  the  rest,  highland  legends 
point  almost  uniformly  to  a  southerly  or  south-easterly  origin 
—  where,  indeed,  the  tale  is  not  of  an  autochthonous  begin- 
ning —  and  with  general  agreement  it  is  to  the  plains  about 
Titicaca  that  the  stories  lead,  as  to  the  most  ancient  seat  of 
mankind.  These  traditions,  coupled  with  the  immemorial 
and  wonderful  ruins  of  the  sacred  place  at  Tiahuanaco  — 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  233 

whether  the  precinct  of  a  city  or  of  a  temple  —  give  a  special 
fascination  to  this  region  as  being  plausibly  the  key  to  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  central  Andean  civilization. 

Certainly  no  more  puzzling  key  was  ever  given  for  the  un- 
locking of  a  mystery,  since  the  basin  of  Lake  Titicaca  is  a 
plateau,  some  thirteen  to  fourteen  thousand  feet  above  sea- 
level,  where  cereals  will  not  ripen,  so  that  only  potatoes  and  a 
few  other  roots,  along  with  droves  of  hardy  llamas  and  alpacas, 
form  the  reliance  for  subsistence  of  a  population  which  at 
best  is  sparse.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  this  plateau  are  ruins 
characterized  by  the  use  of  enormous  stones  —  only  less  than 
the  great  monoliths  of  Egypt  —  and  by  a  skill  in  stone-working 
which  implies  an  extraordinary  development  of  the  mason's 
art.  It  is  the  judgement  of  archaeologists  who  have  visited 
the  scene  that  nothing  less  than  the  huge  endeavour  of  a 
dense  population  could  have  created  the  visible  works;  and 
there  is  a  tradition,  derived  from  an  Indian  quipu-reader 
and  recorded  by  Oliva,  that  the  real  Tiahuanaco  is  a  sub- 
terranean city,  in  vastness  far  exceeding  the  one  above  the 
ground.  The  apparent  discrepancy  between  the  capacity  of 
the  region  for  the  support  of  population  and  the  effort  re- 
quired to  produce  the  megalithic  works  has  led  Sir  Clements 
Markham  to  suggest  that  these  structures  may  date  from  a 
period  when  the  plateau  was  several  thousand  feet  lower 
than  at  present  (for  the  elevation  of  the  Andes  is  geologically 
recent);  it  would  seem,  however,  in  view  of  the  huge  tasks 
which  Inca  engineers  accomplished,  and  of  the  fact  that 
sacred  cities  in  remote  sites  were  venerated  by  the  Andeans, 
more  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  ruins  of  Tiahuanaco  and 
the  islands  represent,  in  part  at  least,  the  devotion  of  distant 
princes,  who  here  maintained  another  Delphi  or  Lhassa. 

The  speaking  monument  of  this  ancient  shrine  (and  there  is 
no  more  remarkable  monolith  in  the  world)  is  the  carved  mon- 
olithic gate,  now  broken.  Above  the  portal  (see  Plate  XXXV) 
is  the  decoration,  a  broad  band  in  low  relief;  while  a  central 


234  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

figure,  elevated  above  the  others,  is  a  divine  image  —  the  god 
with  rayed  head  and  with  wands  or  bolts  in  each  hand,  whose 
likeness  is  met  in  the  Yunca  region  and  on  the  Chavin  stele. 
On  either  side,  in  three  ranks  of  eight  each,  are  forty-eight 
obeisant  figures  —  kings,  some  have  called  them,  but  others 
see  in  them  totemic  symbols  of  clan  ancestors,  although  it  is 
not  impossible  that  they  are  genii  of  earth  and  air  and  water: 
all  are  winged,  all  bear  wands,  and  those  of  the  middle  tier 
are  condor-headed,  while  the  wand  and  crest  and  garb  of  each 
is  adorned  with  heads  of  condor  and  puma  and  fish.  In  case 
of  the  central  figure  the  two  wands  are  adorned  with  condors' 
heads,  and  some  of  the  rays  of  the  head-dress  terminate  in 
pumas'  heads,  while  on  his  dress  are  not  only  heads  of  condors, 
pumas,  and  human  beings,  but  centrally,  on  the  breast,  is  a 
crescent  design  most  resembling  a  fish.  Another  curious  feature, 
alike  of  the  forty-eight  and  of  the  central  god,  are  circles  under 
the  eyes,  seemingly  tears,  which  recall  the  wide-spread  trope 
that  rain  is  heaven's  tears,  and  the  fact  that  tears  were  some- 
times painted  on  ceremonial  masks  used  in  supplications  for 
rain.  Beneath  the  design  just  described  is  a  meander,  perhaps 
the  symbol  of  earth,16  adorned  with  the  same  condor-heads 
and  framing  plaque-like  representations  of  what  are  surely 
celestial  divinities  (still  with  tearful  eyes) ;  and  it  is  not  beyond 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  tiny  trumpeter  who  appears  above 
one  of  these  rayed  masks  may  be  the  Morning  Star,  herald  of 
the  day. 

There  is  little  ground  to  doubt  that  this  monument  is 
cosmical  in  meaning  (it  may  also  be  totemic,  for  at  least  the 
ruling  Andeans  became  "Children  of  the  Sun"),  and  that  the 
central  figure  is  a  heaven-god  or  a  sun-god.  The  most  curious 
of  its  emblems,  taking  into  account  the  nature  of  the  region, 
is  the  fish;  for  while  there  are  fish  in  Lake  Titicaca,  the  natives 
(at  least  today)  are  little  given  to  taking  them.  It  is  possible, 
as  suggested  by  the  crescent  on  the  breast  of  the  god,  that  the 
fish  is  here  a  symbol  of  the  moon,  which  may  have  been  mis- 


PLATE  XXXV 

Monolithic  Gateway,  Tiahuanaco,  Bolivia.  This 
is  regarded  by  many  as  the  most  remarkable  pre- 
historic monument  in  America.  It  is  approximately 
ten  by  twelve  and  a  half  feet  in  front  dimension, 
and  is  estimated  to  weigh  nine  to  twelve  tons.  The 
decoration  consists  of  a  central  figure,  above  the 
doorway,  which  is  certainly  a  sky-god  and  probably 
Viracocha,  and  a  banded  frieze  showing  groups  of 
mythic  beings.  For  description  see  pages  233-34. 
After  a  photograph  in  the  Peabody  Museum. 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  235 

tress  of  the  waves;  and  this  would  lead  us,  analogically,  to 
the  capital  of  the  Grand  Chimu  and  the  temple  of  Si  An, 
where  were  the  great  deities,  the  Moon  above  and  the  Sea  be- 
low. Certainly,  if  an  animal  form  were  sought  to  symbolize 
the  crescent  of  the  skies,  none  could  be  found  more  perfect 
than  that  of  the  fish;  or,  by  extension,  the  bark  by  which  man 
conquers  the  piscine  realm  might  be  conceived  and  imaged 
as  symbol  of  the  lunar  ship. 

Such  an  hypothesis  implies  a  relation  of  Tiahuanaco  to 
the  coastal  regions  as  well  as  to  the  mountain  valleys;  and 
this  relationship,  in  a  period  long  past,  is  demonstrated,  repre- 
sentations of  the  deity  of  Tiahuanaco  being  found,  drawn  in 
Tiahuanaco  style,  on  the  Yunca  vases.  But  what  of  its  exten- 
sion in  the  highlands?  The  Chavin  stone  (see  Plate  XXXI) 
from  the  region  of  the  headwaters  of  Rio  Maranon  far  to  the 
north  of  Cuzco  is,  as  monumental  evidence  of  the  ancient 
cult,  second  in  importance  only  to  the  Tiahuanaco  arch.  The 
figure  on  this  monument  is  in  Nasca  rather  than  in  Tiahuanaco 
style,  having  as  its  head-dress  an  elaborate  structure  which, 
when  viewed  reversed,  is  found  to  be  formed  of  that  series  of 
masks,  each  depending  from  the  lolling  tongue  of  its  prede- 
cessor, which  is  so  common  on  Nasca  vases;  while  snakes' 
heads  replace  the  condor-puma-fish  adornments  of  the  southern 
monument,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  whole  structure 
terminates  in  a  caduceus-like  twist  of  serpents.  The  main 
figure,  however,  with  its  elaborate  wands,  ending  exactly  in 
the  form  of  Jove's  bolt,  certainly  follows  the  style  of  the  cen- 
tral figure  of  Tiahuanaco,  so  that  we  are  justified  in  assuming 
that  it  represents  a  similar  conception  —  a  celestial  deity, 
from  which  proceed  the  serpentine  rays,  sunlight  or  lightning. 
To  the  far  south,  in  the  Calchaqui-Diaguite  region,  potsherds 
have  been  discovered  implying  the  same  central  conception  — 
the  deity  with  mask  and  bolt,  the  dragon  with  head  at  each 
extremity,  and  a  series  of  dragons'  heads  united  by  protruding 
tongues  (a  design  whose  far  extension  leads  into  the  country 


236  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

of  the  unconquered  Araucanians  in  the  Chilean  Andes).18 
More  remarkable  are  the  ceremonial  and  votive  objects  dis- 
covered in  this  region,  among  them  certain  plaques  which  in- 
clude a  masterpiece  (Plate  XXXVI)  bearing  many  traits  that 
identify  it  with  the  monumental  images:  the  rayed  head,  the 
tears  beneath  the  eyes,  the  crescent-shaped  breast-ornament, 
and,  on  either  side  of  the  central  image,  crested  dragons  which 
appear  to  take  the  place  of  the  wands  in  the  type  figures. 

The  names  of  this  heaven-god,  ancient  in  origin  and  wide  in 
the  range  of  his  cult,  have  doubtless  been  many  in  the  course 
of  history;  but  though  several  of  them  have  survived  in  the 
traditions  which  have  been  recorded,  paramount  among  them 
all  is  that  by  which  the  divinity  was  known  to  the  Inca  — 
Viracocha  (or  Uiracocha).  Montesinos's  list  of  kings  com- 
mences, says  Markham,17  "with  the  names  of  the  deity,  Ilia 
Tici  Uiracocha.  We  are  told  that  the  first  word,  Ilia,  means 
*  light.'  Tici  means  '  foundation  or  beginning  of  things.'  The 
word  Uira  is  said  to  be  a  corruption  of  Pirua,  meaning  the 
'depository  or  store-house  of  creation/  .  .  .  The  ordinary 
meaning  of  Cocha  is  a  lake,  but  here  it  is  said  to  signify  an 
abyss  —  profundity.  The  whole  meaning  of  the  words  would 
be,  'The  splendour,  the  foundation,  the  creator,  the  infinite 
God.'  The  word  Yachachic  was  occasionally  added  —  'the 
Teacher.'" 

Molina,  Salcamayhua,  Huaman  Poma,  all  give  Inca  prayers 
addressed  to  Viracocha  —  prayers  which  are  our  best  evidence 
for  the  character  in  which  he  was  regarded.  In  the  group  re- 
corded by  Molina  18  the  deity  appears  as  lord  of  generation  of 
plants  and  animals  and  humankind;  and  to  him  are  addressed 
supplications  for  increase.  But  he  is  very  clearly,  also,  a 
supreme  creator:  "O  conquering  Viracocha!  Ever-present 
Viracocha !  Thou  who  art  in  the  ends  of  the  earth  without 
equal!  Thou  gavest  life  and  valour  to  men,  saying,  'Let  this 
be  a  man!'  and  to  women,  saying,  'Let  this  be  a  woman!' 
Thou  madest  them  and  gavest  them  being !  Watch  over  them 


PLATE  XXXVI 

Plaque  probably  representing  Viracocha.  The 
head  is  surmounted  by  a  rayed  disk,  doubtless  the 
sun;  tears,  symbolic  of  rain,  stream  from  the 
eyes;  above  the  hands,  on  either  side,  are  dragon- 
like  creatures  which  are  doubtless  the  equivalent 
of  the  wands  or  serpents  shown  in  the  hands  of 
similar  figures,  and  which  may  represent  the  two 
servants  of  the  god,  as  they  appear  in  legend. 
After  CA  xii,  Plate  VIII. 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  237 

that  they  may  live  in  health  and  peace.  Thou  who  art  in  the 
high  heavens,  and  among  the  clouds  of  the  tempest,  grant 
this  with  long  life,  and  accept  this  sacrifice,  0  Creator!" 
In  other  prayers  Viracocha  is  represented  as  creator  of  the  sun, 
and  hence  as  supreme  over  the  great  national  god  of  the  Incas: 
and  in  the  rites  which  Molina  describes,  Viracocha  (the 
creator),  the  Sun,  and  the  Thunder  form  a  triad,  addressed  in 
the  order  named.  The  same  supremacy  of  Viracocha  is  recog- 
nized in  the  elaborate  hymn  recorded  by  Salcamayhua  and 
translated  by  Markham  after  the  emended  text  of  Dr.  Mossi 
and  the  Spanish  version  of  Lafone  Quevado : 19 

"O  Uira-cocha!     Lord  of  the  universe; 
Whether  thou  art  male, 
Whether  thou  art  female, 
Lord  of  reproduction, 
Whatsoever  thou  mayest  be, 
O  Lord  of  divination, 
Where  art  thou? 
Thou  mayest  be  above, 
Thou  mayest  be  below, 
Or  perhaps  around 
Thy  splendid  throne  and  sceptre. 
Oh,  hear  me! 
From  the  sky  above, 
In  which  thou  mayest  be, 
From  the  sea  beneath, 
In  which  thou  mayest  be, 
Creator  of  the  world, 
Maker  of  all  men; 
Lord  of  all  Lords, 
My  eyes  fail  me 
For  longing  to  see  thee; 
For  the  sole  desire  to  know  thee. 
Might  I  behold  thee, 
Might  I  know  thee, 
Might  I  consider  thee, 
Might  I  understand  thee. 
Oh,  look  down  upon  me, 
For  thou  knowest  me. 
The  sun  —  the  moon  — 
The  day  —  the  night  — 


238  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Spring  —  winter, 

Are  not  ordained  in  vain 

By  thee,  O  Uira-cocha! 

They  all  travel 

To  the  assigned  place; 

They  all  arrive 

At  their  destined  ends, 

Whithersoever  thou  pleasest. 

Thy  royal  sceptre 

Thou  holdest. 

Oh  hear  me! 

Oh  choose  me! 

Let  it  not  be 

That  I  should  tire, 

That  I  should  die." 


It  were  easy  to  accept  a  pantheistic  interpretation  of  a 
divinity  so  addressed;  it  is  plausible  to  regard  that  deity  as 
androgynous,  as  Lafone  Quevado  suggests.  What  is  certain  is 
that  here  we  have  a  creator-god  superior  to  the  world  of  visible 
nature,  so  that  he  was  represented,  according  to  Salcamay- 
hua,  by  an  oval  plate  of  fine  gold  above  the  symbols  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  in  the  great  temple  at  Cuzco.  Salcamayhua, 
moreover,  connects  with  Viracocha  two  other  names,  Tonapa 
and  Tarapaca,  which,  he  declares,  are  appellatives  of  a  servant 
(or  servants)  of  Viracocha;  and  here  we  have  a  glimpse  into 
another  cycle  of  mythic  history. 

The  story,  as  Salcamayhua  tells  it,20  begins  with  the  remote 
Purunpacha  —  the  time  when  all  the  nations  were  at  war  with 
each  other,  and  there  was  no  rest  from  tumults.  "Then,  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  they  heard  the  Hapi-riunos  [harpy- 
like  daemones]  disappearing  with  mournful  complaints,  and 
crying,  —  'We  are  conquered,  we  are  conquered,  alas  that 
we  should  lose  our  bands!"  This  Salcamayhua  interprets 
as  a  New-World  equivalent  of  the  death-cry  of  Old-World 
paganism,  "Great  Pan  is  dead!"  —  for  from  their  cry,  he  says, 
"it  must  be  understood  that  the  devils  were  conquered  by 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  on  the  cross  on  Mount  Calvary." 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  239 

Some  time  after  the  devils  departed,  there  appeared  "a  bearded 
man,  of  middle  height,  with  long  hair,  and  a  rather  long  shirt. 
They  say  that  he  was  somewhat  past  his  prime,  for  he  already 
had  grey  hairs,  and  he  was  lean.  He  travelled  by  aid  of  a  staff, 
teaching  the  natives  with  much  love  and  calling  them  all  his 
sons  and  daughters.  As  he  went  through  the  land,  he  per- 
formed many  miracles.  The  sick  were  healed  by  his  touch. 
He  spoke  all  languages  better  than  the  natives."  They  called 
him,  Salcamayhua  says,  Tonapa  or  Tarapaca  ("  Tarapaca 
means  an  eagle"),  associating  these  names  with  that  of  Vira- 
cocha;  "but  was  he  not  the  glorious  apostle,  St.  Thomas?" 

Many  tales  are  told  of  the  miracles  performed  by  Tonapa, 
among  others  the  story,  which  Avila  narrates'  of  Pariacaca, 
of  the  overwhelming  by  flood  of  a  village,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  had  abused  him;  and  similar  legends  in  which  the 
offenders  were  transformed  into  stones.  "They  further  say 
that  this  Tonapa,  in  his  wanderings,  came  to  the  mountains 
of  Caravaya,  where  he  erected  a  very  large  cross;  and  he 
carried  it  on  his  shoulders  to  the  mountain  of  Carapucu, 
where  he  preached  in  a  loud  voice,  and  shed  tears."  In  1897 
Bandelier  21  visited  the  village  of  Carabuco,  on  Lake  Titicaca, 
and  there  saw  the  ancient  cross,  known  for  more  than  three 
centuries,  which  tradition  associates  with  pre-Columbian 
times.  "The  meaning  of  Carapucu,"  Salcamayhua  continues, 
"is  when  a  bird  called  pucu-pucu  sings  four  times  at  early 
dawn."  May  there  not  be  here  a  clue  to  the  meaning  both  of 
the  myth  and  of  the  emblem  ?  At  dawn,  when  the  herald  birds 
first  sing,  the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  of  which  the  cross  is 
symbol,  are  shaped  by  the  light  of  day  —  a  token  and  a  rem- 
iniscence of  the  first  creation  of  Earth  by  shining  Heaven. 

Molina,  Cieza  de  Leon,  Sarmiento,  Huaman  Poma  22  tell  of 
the  making  of  sun  and  moon,  and  of  the  generations  of  men, 
associating  this  creation  with  the  lake  of  Titicaca,  its  islands, 
and  its  neighbourhood.  Viracocha  is  almost  universally  repre- 
sented as  the  creator,  and  the  story  follows  the  main  plot  of 


240  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  genesis  narratives  known  to  the  civilized  nations  of  both 
Americas  —  a  succession  of  world  aeons,  each  ending  in  cata- 
clysm. As  told  by  Huaman  Poma,  five  such  ages  had  pre- 
ceded that  in  which  he  lived.  The  first  was  an  age  of  Viracochas, 
an  age  of  gods,  of  holiness,  of  life  without  death,  although  at 
the  same  time  it  was  devoid  of  inventions  and  refinements ;  the 
second  was  an  age  of  skin-clad  giants,  the  Huari  Runa,  or 
"Indigenes,"  worshippers  of  Viracocha;  third  came  the  age 
of  Puron  Runa,  or  "Common  Men,"  living  without  culture; 
fourth,  that  of  the  Auca  Runa,  "Warriors,"  and  fifth  that  of 
the  Inca  rule,  ended  by  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards.  As 
related  by  Sarmiento  the  first  age  was  that  of  a  sunless  world 
inhabited  by  a  race  of  giants,  who,  owing  to  the  sin  of  diso- 
bedience, were  cataclysmically  destroyed;  but  two  brothers, 
surviving  on  a  hill-top,  married  two  women  descended  from 
heaven  (in  Molina's  version  these  are  bird-women)  and  re- 
peopled  a  part  of  the  world.  Viracocha,  however,  undertook 
a  second  creation  at  Lake  Titicaca,  this  time  with  sun,  moon, 
and  stars;  but  out  of  jealousy,  since  at  first  the  moon  was  the 
brighter  orb,  the  sun  threw  a  handful  of  ashes  over  his  rival's 
face,  thus  giving  the  shaded  colour  which  the  moon  now  pre- 
sents. Viracocha,  we  are  told,  was  assisted  by  three  servants, 
one  of  whom,  Taguapaca,  rebelled  against  him;  for  this  he  was 
bound  and  set  adrift  upon  the  lake  (an  event  which,  in  a 
different  form,  is  given  by  Salcamayhua  as  a  part  of  the  perse- 
cution of  Tonapa);  and  then,  taking  his  two  remaining  ser- 
vitors with  him,  the  deity  "went  to  a  place  now  called  Tiahua- 
nacu  .  .  .  and  in  this  place  he  sculptured  and  designed  on  a 
great  piece  of  stone  all  the  nations  that  he  intended  to  create," 
after  which  he  sent  his  servants  forth  to  command  all  tribes 
and  all  nations  to  multiply.  The  last  act  of  Viracocha's  career 
was  his  miraculous  departure  across  the  western  sea,  "travelling 
over  the  water  as  if  it  were  land,  without  sinking,"  and  leaving 
behind  him  the  prophecy  that  he  would  send  his  messengers 
once  again  to  protect  and  to  teach  his  people. 


PLATE  XXXVII 

Vase  painting  of  the  sky-god,  Tiahuanaco  style, 
from  Pachacamac.  Compare  Plates  XXXI,  XXXIV, 
XXXV,  XXXVI.  After  Baessler,  Contributions  to 
the  Archaeology  of  the  Empire  of  the  Incas,  Vol.  IV, 
Plate  CIV. 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  241 

The  tales  are  surely  explanatory  of  the  monuments;  and  in 
both  we  see  the  general  outlines  of  the  ancient  Peruvian  religion. 
Supreme  in  the  pantheon  was  the  great  creator-god,  High 
Heaven  itself,  Ilia  Tici  Viracocha.  Attendant  upon  this 
divinity  (perhaps  ancient  doublets  in  some  cases)  was  a  group 
of  two  or  three  servants  or  sons,  who  were  assuredly  also 
celestial  —  Sun  and  Moon,  or  Sun  and  Moon  and  Morning 
Star,  or  Sun  and  Thunder  (for  in  Peru  bidentalia  were  every- 
where). Tonapa  (whom  Markham  regards  as  properly  Conapa, 
"Heat-Bearing,"  and  the  same  being  as  Coniraya)  is  the  Pe- 
ruvian equivalent  of  Quetzalcoatl  and  Bochica  23  —  the  robed 
and  bearded  white  man,  bearing  a  magic  staff,  who  comes 
from  the  east  and  after  teaching  men  the  way  of  life,  departs 
over  the  sea.  It  is  no  marvel  that  the  first  missionaries  and 
their  converts  saw  in  this  being,  with  his  cruciform  symbol, 
an  apostle  of  their  own  faith  who  had  journeyed  by  way  of  the 
Orient  to  preach  the  Gospel.  Yet  certainly  it  is  no  mere  imagi- 
nation to  find  another  interpretation  of  the  story  —  what  better 
image  could  fancy  suggest  for  the  daily  course  of  the  sun  than 
that  of  a  bright-faced  man,  bearded  with  rays,  mantled  in 
light,  transforming  the  world  of  darkness  into  a  world  of  beauty 
and  the  domain  of  the  concealed  into  a  domain  of  things  known, 
before  his  departure  across  the  western  waters,  promising  to 
return,  or  to  send  again  his  messengers  of  light,  to  renew  the 
luminous  mission?  When  the  Spaniards  came,  bearded  and 
white,  in  shining  mail  and  weaponed  with  fire,  the  Indians 
beheld  the  embodied  form  of  the  mythic  hero,  and  so  they  ap- 
plied to  them  the  name  which  is  still  theirs  for  a  white  man  — 
viracocha.  In  such  devious  ways  have  the  faiths  and  the  fancies 
of  Earth's  two  worlds  commingled. 

What  ground  there  is  for  the  ascription  of  something  ap- 
proaching monotheism  to  the  Peruvians  centres  in  the  sky-deity 
rather  than  in  the  Sun,  whose  cult  under  the  Incas,  to  some 
extent  replaced  that  of  the  elder  supreme  god.  "No  one  can 
doubt,"  says  Lafone  Quevado,24  "that  Pachacamac  and  Vira- 


242  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

cocha  were  gods  who  correspond  to  our  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Being  and  that  they  were  adored  in  America  before  the  coming 
of  Columbus;  and  it  is  logical  to  attribute  to  the  same  American 
soil  the  idea  of  such  a  conception,  even  when  it  occurs  among 
the  most  savage  tribes,  since  that  simply  presupposes  an  ethnic 
contact  to  which  are  opposed  no  insuperable  difficulties  of 
geography.  The  solar  cult  is  farther  from  fetishism  than  is  the 
idea  of  the  Yahveh  of  the  Jews  from  the  solar  cult:  from  this  to 
the  true  God  is  a  step,  and  the  most  savage  nations  of  America 
found  themselves  surrounded  by  worshippers  of  the  light  of 
day." 

V.    THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  SUN 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  Inca  conquests  is  their 
professed  motive  —  professed,  that  is,  in  Inca  tradition,  es- 
pecially as  represented  by  the  writings  of  Garcilasso  de  la 
Vega  —  for  the  Incas  proclaimed  themselves  apostles  of  a  new 
creed  and  teachers  of  a  new  way  of  life;  they  were  Children  of 
the  Sun,  sent  by  their  divine  parent  to  bring  to  a  darkened  and 
barbarous  world  a  purer  faith  and  a  more  enlightened  conduct. 
Garcilasso  tells25  how,  when  a  boy,  he  inquired  of  his  Inca 
uncle  the  origin  of  their  race.  "Know,"  said  his  kinsman, 
"that  in  ancient  times  all  this  region  which  you  see  was  covered 
with  forests  and  thickets,  and  the  people  lived  like  brute 
beasts  without  religion  nor  government,  nor  towns,  nor  houses, 
without  cultivating  the  land  nor  covering  their  bodies,  for  they 
knew  how  to  weave  neither  cotton  nor  wool  to  make  garments. 
They  dwelt  two  or  three  together  in  caves  or  clefts  of  the  rocks, 
or  in  caverns  under  ground;  they  ate  the  herbs  of  the  field  and 
roots  or  fruit  like  wild  beasts,  and  they  also  devoured  human 
flesh;  they  covered  their  bodies  with  leaves  and  with  the  bark  of 
trees,  or  with  the  skins  of  animals;  in  fine  they  lived  like  deer 
or  other  game,  and  even  in  their  intercourse  with  women  they 
were  like  brutes,  for  they  knew  nothing  of  cohabiting  with 
separate  wives.  .  .  .  Our  Father,  the  Sun,  seeing  the  human 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  243 

race  in  the  condition  I  have  described,  had  compassion  upon 
them  and  from  heaven  he  sent  down  to  earth  a  son  and  daughter 
to  instruct  them  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Father,  the  Sun,  that 
adoring  Him,  they  might  adopt  Him  as  their  God;  and  also 
to  give  them  precepts  and  laws  by  which  to  live  as  reasonable 
and  civilized  men,  and  to  teach  them  to  dwell  in  houses  and 
towns,  to  cultivate  maize  and  other  crops,  to  breed  flocks, 
and  to  use  the  fruits  of  the  earth  as  rational  beings,  instead  of 
existing  like  beasts.  With  these  commands  and  intentions  our 
Father,  the  Sun,  placed  his  two  children  in  the  lake  of  Titicaca, 
saying  to  them  that  they  might  go  where  they  pleased  and  that 
at  every  place  where  they  stopped  to  eat  or  sleep  they  were  to 
thrust  into  the  ground  a  sceptre  of  gold  which  was  half  a  yard 
long  and  two  fingers  in  thickness,  giving  them  this  staff  as  a. 
sign  and  a  token  that  in  the  place  where,  by  one  blow  on  the 
earth,  it  should  sink  down  and  disappear,  there  it  was  the  desire 
of  our  Father,  the  Sun,  that  they  should  remain  and  establish 
their  court.  Finally  He  said  to  them:  'When  you  have  reduced 
these  people  to  our  service,  you  shall  maintain  them  in  habits 
of  reason  and  justice  by  the  practice  of  piety,  clemency,  and 
meekness,  assuming  in  all  things  the  office  of  a  pious  father 
toward  his  beloved  and  tender  children;  for  thus  you  will  form 
a  likeness  and  reflection  of  me.  I  do  good  to  the  whole  world, 
giving  light  that  men  may  see  and  do  their  business,  making 
them  warm  when  they  are  cold,  cherishing  their  pastures  and 
crops,  ripening  their  fruits  and  increasing  their  flocks,  water- 
ing their  lands  with  dew  and  bringing  fine  weather  in  proper 
season.  I  take  care  to  go  around  the  earth  each  day  that  I 
may  see  the  necessities  that  exist  in  the  world  and  supply  them, 
as  the  sustainer  and  benefactor  of  the  heathen.  I  desire  that 
you  shall  imitate  this  example  as  my  children,  sent  to  earth 
solely  for  the  instruction  and  benefit  of  these  men  who  live 
like  beasts;  and  from  this  time  I  constitute  and  name  you  as 
kings  and  lords  over  all  the  tribes  that  you  may  instruct  them 
in  your  rational  works  and  government.": 


244  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Viewed  as  theology,  this  utterance  is  remarkable.  Even  if 
it  be  taken  (as  perhaps  it  should  be)  rather  as  an  excuse  for 
conquests  made  than  as  their  veritable  pretext,  the  story  still 
reflects  an  advanced  stage  of  moral  thinking,  since  utterly 
barbarous  races  demand  no  such  justification  for  seizing  from 
others  what  they  desire;  and  in  this  broader  scope  the  succes- 
sors of  Manco  Capac  and  Mama  Ocllo  soon  interpreted  their 
liberal  commission.  The  third  Inca,  Lloque  Yupanqui,  decided, 
Garcilasso  says,26  that  "all  their  policy  should  not  be  one  of 
prayer  and  persuasion,  but  that  arms  and  power  should  form  a 
part,  at  least  with  those  who  were  stubborn  and  pertinaceous." 
Having  assembled  an  army,  the  Inca  crossed  the  border, 
and  entering  a  province  called  Cana,  he  sent  messengers  to 
the  inhabitants,  "requiring  them  to  submit  to  and  obey  the 
child  of  the  Sun,  abandoning  their  own  vain  and  evil  sacrifices, 
and  bestial  customs"  —  a  formula  that  became  thenceforth 
the  Inca  preliminary  to  a  declaration  of  war.  The  Cana  sub- 
mitted, but,  the  chronicler  says,  when  he  passed  to  the  province 
of  Ayaviri,  the  natives  "were  so  stubborn  and  rebellious  that 
neither  promises,  nor  persuasion,  nor  the  examples  of  the 
other  subjugated  aborigines  were  of  any  avail;  they  all  pre- 
ferred to  die  defending  their  liberty."  And  so  fell  many  a 
province,  after  vainly  endeavouring  to  protect  its  native  gods, 
as  the  realm  of  the  Incas  grew,  always  advancing  under  the 
pretext  of  religious  reform,  the  mandate  of  the  Sun. 

But  while  the  extension  of  the  solar  cult  was  made  the  excuse 
for  the  creation  of  an  empire,  it  was  more  than  a  political 
device;  for  the  Incas  called  themselves  "children  of  the  Sun" 
in  the  belief  that  they  were  directly  descended  from  this  deity 
and  under  his  special  care.  Molina  27  tells  of  an  adventure 
which  he  ascribes  to  Inca  Yupanqui,  meaning,  apparently,  Pa- 
chacuti,  the  greatest  of  the  Incas.  While,  as  a  young  man,  the 
Inca  prince  was  journeying  to  visit  his  father,  Viracocha  Inca, 
he  passed  a  spring  in  which  he  saw  a  piece  of  crystal  fall, 
wherein  appeared  the  figure  of  an  Indian.  From  the  back  of 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH 


245 


his  head  issued  three  very  brilliant  rays,  even  as  those  of  the 
Sun;  serpents  were  twined  round  his  arms,  and  on  his  head 
there  was  a  llautu  [the  fringe,  symbol  of  the  sun's  rays,  worn 
on  the  forehead  by  the  Incas  as  token  of  royalty]  like  that  of  the 
Inca.  His  ears  were  bored,  and  ear-pieces,  resembling  those 
used  by  the  Incas,  were  inserted;  he  was  also  dressed  in  the 
manner  of  the  Inca.  The  head  of  a  lion  came  from  between  his 
legs,  and  on  his  shoulders  there  was  another  lion  whose  legs 
appeared  to  join  over  the  shoulders  of  the  man;  while,  further- 
more, a  sort  of  serpent  was  twined  about  his  shoulders.  This 
apparition  said  to  the  youth:  "Come  hither,  my  son,  and  fear 
not,  for  I  am  the  Sun,  thy  father.  Thou  shalt  conquer  many 
nations;  therefore  be  careful  to  pay  great  reverence  to  me  and 
remember  me  in  thy  sacrifices."  The  vision  vanished,  but  the 
piece  of  crystal  remained,  "and  they  say  that  he  afterward  saw 
in  it  everything  he  wanted."  The  solar  imagery  and  the  analogy 
of  this  figure,  with  its  lions  and  serpents,  to  the  monumental 
representations  of  celestial  deities,  are  at  once  apparent;  and 
there  is,  too,  in  the  tale,  with  its  prophecy  and  its  crystal- 
gazing  more  than  a  suggestion  of  the  fast  in  the  wilderness  by 
which  the  North  American  Indian  youth  seeks  a  revelation  of 
his  personal  medicine-helper,  or  totem.  The  Incas  all  had  such 
personal  tutelaries.  That  of  Manco  Capac  was  said  to  have 
been  a  falcon,  called  Inti;  and  the  word  came  to  mean  the  Sun 
itself  in  its  character  as  deity  —  or,  perhaps,  as  tutelary  of  the 
Inca  clan,  since  the  name  Inti  appears  in  the  epithets  applied 
to  the  "brothers"  of  more  than  one  later  Inca.  Serpents, 
birds,  and  golden  images  were  forms  of  these  totemic  familiars, 
each  buried  with  the  body  of  the  Inca  to  whom  it  had  pertained. 
Just  as  individuals  had  their  personal  Genii  of  this  character, 
so  each  clan  had  for  ancestor  its  Genius,  or  tutelary,  which 
might  be  a  star,  a  mountain,  a  rock,  or  a  spring.  The  Sun 
was  such  a  Genius  of  the  Incas,  and  it  came  to  be  an  ever 
greater  deity  as  Inca  power  spread  by  very  reason  of  the 
growing  importance  of  their  clan;  while  its  recognition  by 


246  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

members  of  allied  and  conquered  septs  came  to  be  demanded 
very  much,  we  may  suppose,  as  the  cultic  acknowledgement  of 
the  Genius  of  the  Roman  Emperor  was  required  in  expression 
of  loyalty  to  the  reigning  race. 

The  Inca  pantheon  was  not  narrow.28  Besides  the  ancestral 
deities,  there  were  innumerable  huacas  —  sacred  places,  ora- 
cles, or  idols — and  whole  classes  of  nature-powers;  the  genera- 
tive Earth  (Pacha  Mama)  and  "mamas"  of  plant  and  animal 
kinds;  meteorological  potencies,  especially  the  Rainbow  and 
Thunder  and  Lightning,  conceived  as  servants  of  the  Sun; 
and,  in  the  heaven  itself,  the  Moon  and  the  Constellations,  by 
which  the  seasons  were  computed.  Remote  over  all  was  the 
heaven-god  and  creator,  Viracocha,  with  respect  to  whom  the 
Sun  itself  was  but  a  servitor.  Salcamayhua  declares  that 
Manco  Capac  had  set  up  a  plate  of  fine  gold,  oval  in  shape, 
"which  signified  that  there  was  a  Creator  of  heaven  and 
earth."  Mayta  Capac  renewed  this  image  —  despising,  tradi- 
tion said,  all  created  objects,  even  the  highest,  such  as  men  and 
the  sun  and  moon  —  and  "he  caused  things  to  be  placed 
round  the  plate,  which  I  have  shown  that  it  may  be  perceived 
what  these  heathen  thought."  In  illustration  Salcamayhua 
gives  a  drawing  which  many  authorities  regard  as  the  key  to 
Peruvian  mythology.  At  the  top  is  a  representation  of  the 
Southern  Cross,  the  pole  of  the  austral  heavens.  Below  this 
is  the  oval  symbol  of  the  Creator,  on  one  side  of  which  is  an 
image  of  the  Sun,  with  the  Morning  Star  beneath,  while 
opposite  is  the  Moon  above  the  Evening  Star.  Under  these  is 
a  group  of  twelve  signs  —  a  leaping  puma,  a  tree,  "Mama 
Cocha,"  a  chart  of  this  mountainous  Earth  surmounted  by  a 
rainbow  and  serving  as  source  for  a  river  into  which  levin 
falls,  a  group  of  seven  circles  called  "shining  eyes,"  and  other 
emblems  —  the  whole  representing,  so  Stansbury  Hagar 
argues,  the  Peruvian  zodiac.  Salcamayhua  goes  on  to  say 
that  Huascar  placed  an  image  of  the  Sun  in  the  place  where 
the  symbol  of  the  Creator  had  been,  and  it  was  as  thus 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH 


247 


altered  that  the  Spaniards  found  the  great  Temple  of  the  Sun 
at  Cuzco. 

It  would  appear,  indeed,  that  the  action  of  Huascar  was 
only  a  final  step  in  the  rise  of  the  solar  cult  to  pre-eminence 
in  Peru.  Doubtless  the  sun  had  been  a  principal  deity  from 
an  early  period,  but  its  close  relation  to  the  Inca  clan  made 
it  progressively  more  and  more  important,  so  that  by  the  time 
of  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  it  had  risen,  as  a  national 
divinity,  to  a  position  analogous  to  that  of  Ashur  in  the  later 
Assyrian  empire.  Meantime  the  older  heaven-god,  Viracocha, 
presumably  the  tutelary  of  the  pre-Inca  empire  and  of  Tia- 
huanaco,  had  faded  into  obscurity.  To  be  sure,  there  was  a  tem- 
ple to  this  god  in  Cuzco  (so  Molina  and  Salcamayhua  attest) ; 
but  to  the  Sun  there  were  shrines  all  over  the  land,  with 
priests  and  priestesses;  while  Cuzco  was  the  centre  of  a  mag- 
nificent imperial  cult,  the  sanctuary  honoured  by  royalty 
itself  and  served  not  only  by  the  sacerdotal  head  of  all  Inca 
temple-service,  a  high  priest  of  blood  royal,  but  also  by  hun- 
dreds of  devoted  Virgins  of  the  Sun,  who,  like  the  Roman 
Vestals,  kept  an  undying  fire  on  the  altars  of  the  solar  god. 

Yet  Viracocha  was  not  forgotten,  even  by  the  Incas  who 
subordinated  him  officially  to  the  Sun;  and  few  passages  in 
American  lore  are  more  striking  than  are  the  records  of  Inca 
doubt  as  to  the  Sun's  divinity  and  power.  Molina  says  of 
that  very  Inca  to  whom  the  vision  of  the  crystal  appeared 
that  "he  reflected  upon  the  respect  and  reverence  shown  by 
his  ancestors  to  the  Sun,  who  worshipped  it  as  a  god;  he 
observed  that  it  never  had  any  rest,  and  that  it  daily 
journeyed  round  the  earth;  and  he  said  to  those  of  his  council 
that  it  was  not  possible  that  the  Sun  could  be  the  God  who 
created  all  things,  for  if  he  was,  he  would  not  permit  a  small 
cloud  to  obscure  his  splendour;  and  that  if  he  was  creator  of  all 
things,  he  would  sometimes  rest,  and  light  up  the  whole 
world  from  one  spot.  Thus,  it  cannot  be  otherwise  but  there 
is  someone  who  directs  him,  and  this  is  the  Pacha-yachachi, 


248  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  Creator."  Garcilasso  (quoting  Bias  Valera)  states  that 
the  Inca  Tupac  Yupanqui  likened  the  Sun  rather  to  a  tethered 
beast  or  to  a  shot  arrow  than  to  a  free  divinity,  while  Huayna 
Capac  is  credited  with  a  similar  judgement.  In  the  prayers 
recorded  by  Molina,  Viracocha  is  supreme,  even  over  the  Sun; 
and  these  petitions,  it  must  be  supposed,  represent  the  deepest 
conviction  of  Inca  religion. 

VI.     LEGENDS  OF  THE  INCAS 

Stories  of  Inca  origins,  as  told  by  the  chroniclers,  present  a 
certain  confusion  of  incident  that  probably  goes  back  to  the 
native  versions.  There  are  obviously  historical  narratives 
mingled  with  clearly  mythic  materials  and  influencing  each 
other.  The  islands  of  Titicaca  and  the  ruins  of  Tiahuanaco 
appear  as  the  source  of  remote  provenance  of  the  Incas ;  a  place 
called  Paccari-Tampu  ("Tavern  of  the  Dawn"),  not  far  from 
Cuzco,  and  the  mysterious  hill  of  Tampu-Tocco  ("Tavern  of 
the  Windows")  are  recorded  as  sites  associated  with  their 
more  immediate  rise;  yet  as  Manco  Capac  is  associated  with 
both  origins,  and  as  the  narratives  pertaining  to  both  contain 
cosmogonic  elements,  the  tales  give  the  impression  of  blending 
and  duplication. 

With  different  degrees  of  confusion  all  the  chroniclers  (Cieza 
de  Leon,  Garcilasso,  Molina,  Salcamayhua,  Betanzos,  Mon- 
tesinos,  Huaman  Porno,  and  others)  tell  the  story  of  the  coming 
forth  of  Manco  Capac  and  his  brothers  from  Tampu-Tocco  to 
create  the  empire;  but  of  all  the  accounts  Markham  regards 
that  given  by  Sarmiento  as  the  most  authentic.29  According 
to  this  version,  Tampu-Tocco  was  a  house  on  a  hill,  provided 
with  three  windows,  named  Maras,  Sutic,  and  Capac.  Through 
the  first  of  these  came  the  Maras  tribe,  through  Sutic  came  the 
Tampu  tribe,  and  through  Capac,  the  regal  window,  came  four 
Ayars  with  their  four  wives  —  Ayar  Manco  and  Mama  Ocllo; 
Ayar  Auca  (the  "joyous,"  or  "fighting,"  Ayar)  and  Mama 


PLATE  XXXVIII 

"Temple  of  the  three  Windows,"  Machu  Picchu. 
Windows  are  not  a  frequent  feature  of  Inca  archi- 
tecture, and  when  Bingham  discovered  at  Machu 
Picchu  the  temple  with  three  conspicuous  windows, 
here  shown,  this  discovery  seemed  to  give  added 
plausibility  to  the  theory  that  Machu  Picchu  is 
indeed  the  Tampu-Tocco  of  the  Incas.  See  pages 
248  ff.  and  compare  Plate  XXX.  From  photograph, 
courtesy  of  Hiram  Bingham,  Director  of  the  Yale 
Peruvian  Expedition. 


, 


\, 


THE  ANDEAN  SOUTH  249 

Huaco  (the  "warlike");  Ayar  Cachi  (the  "Salt"  Ayar)  and 
Mama  Ipacura  (the  "Elder  Aunt");  Ayar Uchu  (the  "Pepper" 
Ayar)  and  Mama  Raua.  The  four  pairs  "knew  no  father  nor 
mother,  beyond  the  story  they  told  that  they  came  out  of  the 
said  window  by  order  of  Ticci  Viracocha;  and  they  declared 
that  Viracocha  created  them  to  be  lords";  but  it  was  believed 
that  by  the  counsel  of  the  fierce  Mama  Huaco  they  decided  to 
go  forth  and  subjugate  peoples  and  lands.  Besides  the  Maras 
and  Tampu  peoples,  eight  other  tribes  were  associated  with 
the  Ayars,  as  vassals,  when  they  began  their  quest,  taking  with 
them  their  goods  and  their  families.  Manco  Capac  carrying 
with  him,  as  a  palladium,  a  falcon,  called  Indi,  or  Inti  —  the 
name  of  the  Sun-god  —  bore  also  a  golden  rod  which  was  to 
sink  into  the  land  at  the  site  where  they  were  to  abide;  and 
Salcamayhua  says  that,  in  setting  out,  the  hero  was  wreathed 
in  rain-bows,  this  being  regarded  as  an  omen  of  success. 

The  journey  was  leisurely,  and  in  course  of  it  Sinchi  Rocca, 
who  was  to  be  the  second  Inca,  was  born  to  Mama  Ocllo  and 
Manco  Capac;  but  then  came  a  series  of  magic  transformations 
by  which  the  three  brothers  disappeared,  leaving  the  elder  with- 
out a  rival.  Ayar  Cachi  (who,  Cieza  de  Leon  says,30  "had  such 
great  power  that,  with  stones  hurled  from  his  sling,  he  split  the 
hills  and  hurled  them  up  to  the  clouds  ")  was  the  first  to  excite 
the  envy  of  his  brothers;  and  on  the  pretext  that  certain  royal 
treasures  had  been  forgotten  in  a  cave  of  Tampu-Tocco,  he  was 
sent  back  to  secure  them,  accompanied  by  a  follower  who  had 
secret  instructions  from  the  brothers  to  immure  him  in  the  cave, 
once  he  was  inside.  This  was  done,  and  though  Ayar  Cachi  made 
the  earth  shake  in  his  efforts  to  break  through,  he  could  not 
do  so.  Nevertheless  (Cieza  tells  us)  he  appeared  to  his  brothers, 
"coming  in  the  air  with  great  wings  of  coloured  feathers"; 
and  despite  their  terror,  he  commanded  them  to  go  on  to  their 
destiny,  found  Cuzco,  and  establish  the  empire.  "I  shall  re- 
main in  the  form  and  fashion  that  ye  shall  see  on  a  hill  not 
distant  from  here;  and  it  will  be  for  your  descendants  a  place 


250  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

of  sanctity  and  worship,  and  its  name  shall  be  Guanacaure 
[Huanacauri].  And  in  return  for  the  good  things  that  ye  will 
have  received  from  me,  I  pray  that  ye  will  always  adore  me  as 
god  and  in  that  place  will  set  up  altars  whereat  to  offer  sacri- 
fices. If  ye  do  this,  ye  shall  receive  help  from  me  in  war;  and 
as  a  sign  that  from  henceforth  ye  are  to  be  esteemed,  honoured, 
and  feared,  your  ears  shall  be  bored  in  the  manner  that  ye  now 
behold  mine."  It  was  from  this  custom  of  boring  and  enlarg- 
ing the  ears  that  the  Spaniards  called  the  ruling  caste  Orejones 
("Big-Ears");  and  it  was  at  the  hill  of  Huanacauri  that  the 
Ayar  instructed  the  Incas  in  the  rites  by  which  they  initiated 
youths  into  the  warrior  caste. 

At  this  mount,  which  became  one  of  the  great  Inca  shrines, 
both  the  Salt  and  the  Pepper  Ayars  were  reputed  to  have  been 
transformed  into  stones,  or  idols,  and  it  was  here  that  the  rain- 
bow sign  of  promise  was  given.  As  they  approached  the  hill  — 
so  the  legend  states  —  they  saw  near  the  rainbow  what  ap- 
peared to  be  a  man-shaped  idol;  and  "Ayar  Uchu  offered  him- 
self to  go  to  it,  for  they  said  that  he  was  very  like  it."  He  did 
so,  sat  upon  the  stone,  and  himself  became  stone,  crying:  "O 
Brothers,  an  evil  work  ye  have  wrought  for  me.  It  was  for 
your  sakes  that  I  came  where  I  must  remain  forever,  apart  from 
your  company.  Go!  go!  happy  brethren,  I  announce  to  you 
that  ye  shall  be  great  lords.  I  therefore  pray  that,  in  recogni- 
tion of  the  desire  I  have  always  had  to  please  you,  ye  shall 
honour  and  venerate  me  in  all  your  festivals  and  ceremonies, 
and  that  I  shall  be  the  first  to  whom  ye  make  offerings,  since 
I  remain  here  for  your  sakes.  When  ye  celebrate  the  huarochico 
(which  is  the  arming  of  the  sons  as  knights),  ye  shall  adore  me 
as  their  father,  for  I  shall  remain  here  forever." 

Finally  Manco  Capac's  staff  sank  into  the  ground  —  "two 
shots  of  an  arquebus  from  Cuzco"  —  and  from  their  camp  the 
hero  pointed  to  a  heap  of  stones  on  the  site  of  Cuzco.  "  Showing 
this  to  his  brother,  Ayar  Auca,  he  said,  'Brother!  thou  remem- 
berest  how  it  was  arranged  between  us  that  thou  shouldst  go  to 


THE  ANDEAN   SOUTH  251 

take  possession  of  the  land  where  we  are  to  settle.  Well!  behold 
that  stone.'  Pointing  it  out,  he  continued,  'Go  thither  flying,' 
for  they  say  that  Ayar  Auca  had  developed  some  wings;  'and 
seating  thyself  there,  take  possession  of  the  land  seen  from 
that  heap  of  rocks.  We  will  presently  come  and  settle  and  re- 
side.' When  Ayar  Auca  heard  the  words  of  his  brother,  opening 
his  wings,  he  flew  to  that  place  which  Manco  Capac  had  pointed 
out;  and  seating  himself  there,  he  was  presently  turned  into 
stone,  being  made  the  stone  of  possession.  In  the  ancient 
language  of  this  valley  the  heap  was  called  cozco,  whence  the 
site  has  had  the  name  of  Cuzco  to  this  day." 

Markham  placed  the  events  commemorated  in  this  myth 
at  about  1 100  A.  D.,  and  Bingham's  remarkable  discoveries  of 
Machu  Picchu  and  of  the  Temple  of  the  Three  Windows  appear 
to  prove  the  truth  of  tales  of  a  Tampu-Tocco  dynasty,  pre- 
ceding the  coming  to  Cuzco.  The  tribal  divisions  (in  their 
numbers,  three  and  ten,  strikingly  suggestive  of  Roman  legend) 
are  surely  in  part  historical,  for  Sarmiento  gives  names  of  mem- 
bers of  the  various  ayllus  in  Cuzco  in  his  own  day.  Yet  it  is 
clear  that  the  Ayars  are  mythical  beings.  Garcilasso  says  31  that 
the  four  pairs  came  forth  in  the  beginning  of  the  world;  that 
in  the  various  legends  about  them  the  three  brothers  disappear 
in  allegory,  leaving  Manco  Capac  alone;  and  that  the  Salt 
Ayar  signifies  "instruction  in  the  rational  life,"  while  the 
Pepper  Ayar  means  "delight  received  in  this  instruction." 
The  association  of  the  two  Ayars  with  initiation  ceremonies 
and  civic  destiny  points,  in  fact,  to  the  character  of  culture 
heroes;  and  their  names,  Salt  and  Pepper,  again  suggest  associ- 
ation with  economic  life,  perhaps,  in  some  way,  as  genii  of 
earth  and  vegetation,  though  in  the  myth  of  Ayar  Cachi  the 
suggestion  of  a  volcanic  power  is  almost  irresistible.  Ayar 
Auca  is  clearly  the  genius  loci  of  Cuzco,  while  Manco  Capac 
himself,  conceived  as  an  Ayar,  is  little  more  than  a  culture  hero. 
Perhaps  the  solution  is  to  be  found  in  Montesinos's  lists,  where 
Manco  Capac  is  the  first  ruler  of  the  dynasty  of  the  oldest 


252  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

emperors,  after  the  god  Viracocha  himself,  while  the  first  Inca 
is  Sinchi  Rocca.  The  myth  of  the  Ayars  would  then  hark  back 
to  the  Megalithic  age  and  to  the  cosmogonies  associated  with 
Titicaca,  while  their  connexion  with  the  Incas,  after  the  dynasty 
of  Tampu-Tocco,  would  be,  as  it  were,  but  a  natural  telescoping 
of  ancient  myth  and  later  history,  adding  to  Inca  prestige. 

In  Inca  lore  there  are  other  legends  —  the  tale  of  the  prince 
who  was  stolen  by  his  father's  enemies  and  who  wept  tears  of 
blood,  by  this  portent  saving  his  life;  the  legend  of  the  virgin 
of  the  Sun  who  loved  a  pipe-playing  shepherd  and  of  their 
transformation  into  rocks;  the  story  of  Ollantay,  the  general, 
who  loved  the  Inca's  daughter,  preserved  in  the  drama  which 
Markham  has  translated;  and  along  with  these  are  many  frag- 
ments of  creation-stories  and  aetiological  myths  chronicled 
by  the  early  writers.  History  and  poetic  fancy  combine  in 
these  to  give  materials  into  which  are  woven  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices far  more  ancient  than  the  Inca  race,  just  as  Hellenic  myth 
contains  distorted  reflections  of  the  pre-Greek  age  of  the  Aegean. 
By  means  of  such  tales  the  ancient  shrines  are  made  to  speak 
again,  as  through  oracles. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

THE    TROPICAL    FORESTS:    THE  ORINOCO 
AND    GUIANA 

I.    LANDS  AND   PEOPLES 

A^TONG  earth's  great  continental  bodies  South  America 
is  second  only  to  Australia  in  isolation.  This  is  true  not 
only  geographically,  but  also  in  regard  to  flora  and  fauna,  and 
in  respect  of  its  human  aborigines  and  their  cultures.  To  be 
sure,  within  itself  the  continent  shows  a  diversity  as  wide, 
perhaps,  as  that  of  any;  and  certainly  no  continent  affords  a 
sharper  contrast  both  of  environment  and  of  culture  than  is 
that  of  the  Andes  and  the  civilized  Andeans  to  the  tropical 
forests  with  their  hordes  of  unqualified  savages.  There  are, 
moreover,  streams  of  influence  reaching  from  the  southern 
toward  the  northern  America  —  the  one,  by  way  of  the 
Isthmus,  tenuously  extending  the  bond  of  civilization  in  the 
direction  of  the  cultured  nations  of  Central  America  and 
Mexico;  the  other  carrying  northward  the  savagery  of  the 
tropics  by  the  thin  line  of  the  Lesser  Antilles;  and  it  is,  of 
course,  possible  that  this  double  movement,  under  way  in 
Columbian  days,  was  the  retroaction  of  influences  that  had 
at  one  time  moved  in  the  contrary  direction.  Yet,  on  the 
whole,  South  America  has  its  own  distinct  character,  whether 
of  savagery  or  of  civilization,  showing  little  certain  evidence 
of  recent  influence  from  other  parts  of  the  globe.  Au  fond 
the  cultural  traits  —  implements,  social  organization,  ideas  — 
are  of  the  types  common  to  mankind  at  similar  levels;  but 
their  special  developments  have  a  distinctly  South  American 
character,  so  that,  whether  we  compare  Inca  with  Aztec,  or 


254  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Amazonian  with  Mississippian,  we  perceive  without  hesitancy 
the  continental  idiosyncracy  of  each.  It  is  certain  that  South 
America  has  been  inhabited  from  remote  times;  it  is  certain, 
too,  that  her  aboriginal  civilizations  are  ancient,  reckoned 
even  by  the  Old  World  scale.  A  daring  hypothesis  would 
make  this  continent  an  early,  and  perhaps  the  first  home  of 
the  human  species  —  a  theory  that  would  not  implausibly 
solve  certain  difficulties,  assuming  that  the  differences  which 
mark  aboriginal  North  from  aboriginal  South  America  are 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  former  continent  was  the  meeting- 
place  and  confluence  of  two  streams  —  a  vastly  ancient,  but 
continuous,  northward  flow  from  the  south,  turned  and 
coloured  by  a  thinner  and  later  wash  of  Asiatic  source.1 

The  peoples  of  South  America  are  grouped  by  d'Orbigny,2 
as  result  of  his  ethnic  studies  of  rhomme  americain  made  dur- 
ing the  expedition  of  1826-33,  into  three  great  divisions,  or 
races:  the  Ando-Peruvian,  comprising  all  the  peoples  of  the 
west  coast  as  far  as  Tierra  del  Fuego;  the  Pampean,  including 
the  tribes  of  the  open  countries  of  the  south;  and  the  Brasilio- 
Guaranian,  composed  of  the  stocks  of  those  tropical  forests 
which  form  the  great  body  of  the  South  American  continent. 
With  modifications  this  threefold  grouping  of  the  South  Amer- 
ican aborigines  has  been  maintained  by  later  ethnologists. 
One  of  the  most  recent  studies  in  this  field  (W.  Schmidt, 
"  Kulturkreise  und  Kulturschichten  in  Siidamerika,"  in  ZE 
xlv  [1913]),  while  still  maintaining  the  triple  classification, 
nevertheless  shows  that  the  different  groups  have  mingled 
and  intermingled  in  confusing  complexity,  following  succes- 
sive cycles  of  cultural  influence.  Schmidt's  division  is  primarily 
on  the  basis  of  cultural  traits,  with  reference  to  which  he  dis- 
tinguishes three  primary  groups:  (i)  Peoples  of  the  "collective 
grade,"  who  live  by  hunting,  fishing,  and  the  gathering  of 
plants,  with  the  few  exceptions  of  tribes  that  have  learned 
some  agriculture  from  neighbours  of  a  higher  culture.  In  this 
group  are  the  Gez,  or  Botocudo,  and  the  Puri-Coroados  stocks 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  255 

of  the  east  and  south-east  of  Brazil;  the  stocks  of  the  Gran 
Chaco,  the  Pampas,  and  Tierra  del  Fuego;  while  the  Arau- 
canians  and  certain  tribes  of  the  eastern  Cordilleras  of  the 
Andes  are  also  placed  in  this  class.  (2)  Groups  of  peoples  of 
the  Hackbaustufe,  mostly  practicing  agriculture  and  marked 
by  a  general  advance  in  the  arts,  as  well  as  by  the  presence  of 
a  well-defined  patriarchy  and  evidences  of  totemism  in  their 
social  organization.  In  this  group  are  included  the  great 
South  American  linguistic  stocks  —  the  Cariban,  Arawakan, 
and  Tupi-Guaranian,  inhabiting  the  forests  and  semi-steppes 
of  the  regions  drained  by  the  Orinoco  and  Amazon  and  their 
tributaries,  as  well  as  the  tribes  of  the  north-east  coast  of  the 
continent.  (3)  Groups  of  the  cultured  peoples  of  the  Andes 
—  Chibcha,  Incaic,  and  Calchaqui. 

The  general  arrangement  of  these  three  divisions  follows 
the  contour  of  the  continent.  The  narrow  mountain  ridge 
of  the  west  coast  is  the  seat  of  the  civilized  peoples;  the  home 
of  the  lowest  culture  is  the  east  coast,  extending  in  a  broad 
band  of  territory  from  the  highlands  of  the  Brazilian  provinces 
of  Pernambuco  and  Bahia  south-westward  to  the  Chilean 
Andes  and  Patagonia;  between  these  two,  occupying  the 
whole  centre  of  the  continent,  with  a  broad  base  along  the 
northern  coast  and  narrowing  wedge-like  to  the  south,  is  the 
region  of  the  intermediate  culture  group. 

Most  of  what  is  known  of  the  mythology  of  South  American 
peoples  comes  from  tribes  and  nations  of  the  second  and  third 
groups  —  from  the  Andeans  whose  myths  have  been  sketched 
in  preceding  chapters,  and  from  the  peoples  of  the  tropic 
forests.  The  region  inhabited  by  the  latter  group  is  too  vast 
to  be  treated  as  a  simple  unit;  nor  is  there,  in  the  chaotic 
intermixture  of  tongues  and  tribes,  any  clear  ethnic  demarca- 
tion of  ideas.  In  default  of  other  principle,  it  is  appropriate 
and  expedient,  therefore,  to  follow  the  natural  division  of  the 
territory  into  the  geographical  regions  broadly  determined  by 
the  great  river-systems  that  traverse  the  continent.  These 


256  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

are  three:  in  the  north  the  Orinoco,  with  its  tributaries,  drain- 
ing the  region  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Colombian  plateau 
and  the  Llanos  of  the  Orinoco,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Guiana 
Highlands;  in  the  centre  the  Amazon,  the  world's  greatest 
river,  the  mouth  of  which  is  crossed  by  the  Equator,  while  the 
stream  itself  closely  follows  the  equatorial  line  straight  across 
the  continent  to  the  Andes,  though  its  great  tributaries  drain 
the  central  continent,  many  degrees  to  the  south;  and  in  the 
south  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  formed  by  the  confluence  of  the 
Parana  and  Uruguay,  and  receiving  the  waters  of  the  territories 
extending  from  El  Gran  Chaco  to  the  Pampas,  beyond  which 
the  Patagonian  plains  and  Chilean  Andes  taper  southward 
to  the  Horn.  In  general,  the  Orinoco  region  is  the  home  of  the 
Carib  and  Arawak  tribes;  the  Amazonian  region  is  the  seat 
and  centre  of  the  Tupi-Guaranians;  while  the  region  extend- 
ing from  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  to  the  Horn  is  the  aboriginal 
abode  of  various  peoples,  mostly  of  inferior  culture.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  simplicity  of  this  plan  is 
largely  factitious.  Linguistically,  aboriginal  South  America 
is  even  more  complex  than  North  America  (at  least  above 
Mexico) ;  and  the  whole  central  region  is  a  melange  of  verbally 
unrelated  stocks,  of  which,  for  the  continent  as  a  whole, 
Chamberlain's  incomplete  list  gives  no  less  than  eighty-three.3 

II.    SPIRITS  AND  SHAMANS 

"The  aborigines  of  Guiana,"  writes  Brett,4  "in  their  naturally 
wild  and  untaught  condition,  have  had  a  confused  idea  of  the 
existence  of  one  good  and  supreme  Being,  and  of  many  inferior 
spirits,  who  are  supposed  to  be  of  various  kinds,  but  generally 
of  malignant  character.  The  Good  Spirit  they  regard  as  the 
Creator  of  all,  and,  as  far  as  we  could  learn,  they  believe  Him 
to  be  immortal  and  invisible,  omnipotent  and  omniscient. 
But  notwithstanding  this,  we  have  never  discovered  any  trace 
of  religious  worship  or  adoration  paid  to  Him  by  any  tribe  while 


THE   ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  257 

in  its  natural  condition.  They  consider  Him  as  a  Being  too  high 
to  notice  them;  and,  not  knowing  Him  as  a  God  that  heareth 
prayer,  they  concern  themselves  but  little  about  Him."  In 
another  passage  the  same  writer  states  that  the  natives  of 
Guiana  "all  maintain  the  Invisibility  of  the  Eternal  Father. 
In  their  traditionary  legends  they  never  confound  Him  —  the 
Creator,  —  the  'Ancient  of  Heaven'  —  with  the  mythical  per- 
sonages of  what,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  we  must  call  their 
heroic  age;  and  though  sorcerers  claim  familiarity  with,  and 
power  to  control,  the  inferior  (and  malignant)  spirits,  none 
would  ever  pretend  to  hold  intercourse  with  Him,  or  that  it 
were  possible  for  mortal  man  to  behold  Him."  A  missionary  to 
the  same  region,  Fray  Ruiz  Blanco,5  earlier  by  some  two  hundred 
years,  says  of  the  religion  of  these  aborigines  that,  "The  false 
rites  and  diableries  with  which  the  multitude  are  readily  duped 
are  innumerable  .  .  .  briefly  .  .  .  there  is  the  seated  fact  that 
all  are  idolaters,  and  there  is  the  particular  fact  that  all  abhor 
and  greatly  fear  the  devil,  whom  they  call  Iboroquiamio." 

Minds  of  a  scientific  stamp  see  the  matter  somewhat  differ- 
ently. "The  natives  of  the  Orinoco,"  Humboldt  declares,6 
"  know  no  other  worship  than  that  of  the  powers  of  nature;  like 
the  ancient  Germans  they  deify  the  mysterious  object  which 
excites  their  simple  admiration  (deorum  nominibus  appellant 
secretum  illud,  quod  sola  reverentia  vident)"  From  the  point 
of  view  of  an  ethnologist  of  the  school  of  Tylor,  im  Thurn  de- 
scribes the  religion  of  the  Indians  of  Guiana :  Having  no  belief 
in  a  hierarchy  of  spirits,  they  can  have,  he  says,  "none  in  any 
such  beings  as  in  higher  religions  are  called  gods.  ...  It  is 
true  that  various  words  have  been  found  in  all,  or  nearly  all, 
the  languages,  not  only  of  Guiana,  but  also  of  the  whole  world, 
which  have  been  supposed  to  be  the  names  of  a  great  spirit, 
supreme  being,  or  god";  nevertheless,  he  concludes,  "the  con- 
ception of  a  God  is  not  only  totally  foreign  to  Indian  habits  of 
thought,  but  belongs  to  a  much  higher  stage  of  intellectual 
development  than  any  attained  by  them." 


258  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

It  is  from  such  contrary  evidences  as  these  that  the  true 
character  of  aboriginal  beliefs  must  be  reconstructed.  Im 
Thurn  says  of  the  native  names  that  they  "to  some  extent 
acquired  a  sense  which  the  missionaries  imparted  to  them"; 
and  when  we  meet,  in  such  passages  as  that  quoted  from  Brett, 
the  ascription  of  attributes  like  omniscience  and  omnipotence 
to  primitive  divinities,  there  is  indeed  cause  for  humour  at  the 
missionary's  expense.  But  there  are  logical  idols  in  more  than 
one  trade;  the  ethnologists  have  their  full  share  of  them.  Im 
Thurn  gives  us  a  list  of  indigenous  appellations  of  the  Great 
Spirit  of  Guiana : 

[  Tamosi  ("the  Ancient  .One"). 
True  Caribs:s  Tamosi  kabotano  ("the  Ancient  One 


Carib  Tribes: 


I      in  the  Sky"). 


Ackawoi:  Mackonaima  (meaning  unknown). 
Macusi:  Kutti    (probably    only    Macusi-Dutch    for 

"God"). 

[  Wa  murreta  kwonci  ("our  Maker"). 
Arawak  Tribes:  \  Wa  cinaci  ("our  Father"). 

{  Ifilici  wacinaci  ("our  Great  Father"). 

,,r  ,T7     .          f  Kononatoo  ("our  Maker"). 

Warrau-Wapiana:  <  ^  ,  *. 

\  lommagatoo  (meaning  unknown). 

Of  all  these  names  im  Thurn  remarks  that  in  those  whose 
meanings  are  known  "only  three  ideas  are  expressed  —  (i)  One 
who  lived  long  ago  and  is  now  in  sky-land;  (2)  the  maker  of 
the  Indians;  and  (3)  their  father.  None  of  these  ideas,"  he 
continues,  "in  any  way  involve  the  attributes  of  a  god  ..." 
Obviously,  acceptance  of  this  negation  turns  upon  one's  under- 
standing of  the  meaning  of  "god." 

The  Cariban  Makonaima  (there  are  many  variants,  such  as 
Makanaima,  Makunaima,  and  the  like)  is  a  creator-god  and 
the  hero  of  a  cosmogony.  It  is  possible  that  his  name  connects 
him  with  the  class  of  Kenaima  (or  Kanaima),  avengers  of 
murder  and  bringers  of  death,  who  are  often  regarded  as  en- 
dowed with  magical  or  mysterious  powers;  and  in  this  case 
the  term  may  be  analogous  to  the  Wakanda  and  Manito  of  the 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  259 

northern  continent.  Schomburgk  8  states  that  Makunaima 
means  "one  who  works  in  the  night";  and  if  this  be  true,  it  is 
curious  to  compare  with  such  a  conception  the  group  of  Ara- 
wakan  demiurgic  beings  whom  he  describes.  According  to  the 
Arawak  myths,  a  being  Kururumany  was  the  creator  of  men, 
while  Kulimina  formed  women.  Kururumany  was  the  author 
of  all  good,  but  coming  to  earth  to  survey  his  creation,  he  dis- 
covered that  the  human  race  had  become  wicked  and  corrupt; 
wherefore  he  deprived  them  of  everlasting  life,  leaving  among 
them  serpents,  lizards,  and  other  vermin.  Wurekaddo  ("She 
Who  Works  in  the  Dark")  and  Emisiwaddo  ("She  Who  Bores 
Through  the  Earth")  are  the  wives  of  Kururumany;  and 
Emisiwaddo  is  identified  as  the  cushi-ant,  so  that  we  have  here 
an  interesting  suggestion  of  world-building  ants,  for  which 
analogues  are  to  be  found  far  north  in  America,  in  the  Pueblos 
and  on  the  North- West  Coast.  There  is,  however,  a  faineant 
god  high  above  Kururumany,  one  Aluberi,  pre-eminent  over 
all,  who  has  no  concern  for  the  affairs  of  men;  while  other 
supreme  beings  mentioned  by  Schomburgk  are  Amalivaca  — 
who  is,  however,  rather  a  Trickster-Hero  —  and  the  group  that, 
among  the  Maipuri,  corresponds  to  the  Arawakan  family  of 
divine  beings,  Purrunaminari  ("He  Created  Men"),  Tapari- 
marru,  his  wife,  and  Sisiri,  his  son,  whom  she,  without  being 
touched  by  him,  conceived  to  him  from  the  mere  love  he  bore 
her  —  a  myth  in  which,  as  Schomburgk  observes,  we  should 
infer  European  influence. 

Humboldt,  in  describing  the  religion  of  the  Orinoco  aborigines 
says  g  of  them  that  "they  call  the  good  spirit  Cachimana;  it  is 
the  Manitou,  the  Great  Spirit,  that  regulates  the  seasons  and 
favours  the  harvests.  Along  with  Cachimana  there  is  an  evil 
principle,  lolokiamo,  less  powerful,  but  more  artful,  and  in 
particular  more  active."  On  the  whole,  this  characterization 
represents  the  consensus  of  observation  of  traveller,  missionary, 
and  scientist  from  Columbian  days  to  the  present  and  for  the 
wilder  tribes  of  the  whole  of  both  South  and  North  America. 


260  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

There  is  a  good  being,  the  Great  Spirit,  more  or  less  remote  from 
men,  often  little  concerned  with  human  or  terrene  affairs,  but 
the  ultimate  giver  of  life  and  light,  of  harvest  food  and  game 
food.  There  is  an  evil  principle,  sometimes  personified  as  a 
Lord  of  Darkness,  although  more  often  conceived  not  as  a 
person,  but  as  a  mischievous  power,  or  horde  of  powers,  mani- 
fested in  multitudes  of  annoying  forms.  Among  shamanistic 
tribes  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  Good  Power;  it  is  too  remote 
to  be  seriously  courted;  or,  if  it  is  worshipped,  solemn  festivals, 
elaborate  mysteries,  and  priestly  rites  are  the  proper  agents 
for  attracting  its  attention.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Evil  Power 
in  all  its  innumerable  and  tricky  embodiments,  must  be  warded 
off  by  constant  endeavour  —  by  shamanism,  "medicine," 
magic.  The  tribes  of  the  Orinoco  region  are,  db  origine,  mainly 
in  the  shamanistic  stage.  The  peaiman  is  at  once  priest,  doctor, 
and  magician,  whose  main  duty  is  to  discover  the  deceptive 
concealment  of  the  malicious  Kenaima  and,  by  his  exorcisms, 
to  free  men  from  the  plague.  That  the  Kenaima  is  of  the  nature 
of  a  spirit  appears  from  the  fact  that  the  term  is  applied  to 
human  malevolences,  especially  when  these  find  magic  mani- 
festation, as  well  as  to  evils  emanating  from  other  sources. 
Thus,  the  avenger  of  a  murder  is  a  Kenaima,  and  he  must  not 
only  exact  life  for  life;  he  must  achieve  his  end  by  certain 
means  and  with  rites  insuring  himself  against  the  ill  will  of 
his  victim's  spirit.  Again,  the  Were-Jaguar  is  a  Kenaima. 
"A  jaguar  which  displays  unusual  audacity,"  says  Brett,4 
"will  often  unnerve  even  a  brave  hunter  by  the  fear  that  it 
may  be  a  Kanaima  tiger.  'This,'  reasons  the  Indian,  'if  it  be 
but  an  ordinary  wild  beast,  I  may  kill  with  bullet  or  arrow; 
but  what  will  be  my  fate  if  I  assail  the  man-destroyer  —  the 
terrible  Kanaima?" 

The  Kenaima,  the  man-killer,  whether  he  be  the  human 
avenger  upon  whom  the  law  of  a  primitive  society  has  imposed 
the  task  of  exacting  retribution,  or  whether  he  be  the  no  less 
dreaded  inflicter  of  death  through  disease,  or  magically  induced 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  261 

accident,  or  by  shifting  skins  with  a  man-slaying  beast,  is  only 
one  type  of  the  spirits  of  evil.  Others  are  the  Yauhahu  and 
Orehu  (Arawak  names  for  beings  which  are  known  to  the  other 
tribes  by  other  titles).  The  Yauhahu  are  the  familiars  of 
sorcerers,  the  peaimen,  who  undergo  a  long  period  of  proba- 
tionary preparation  in  order  to  win  their  favour  and  who  hold 
it  only  by  observing  the  most  stringent  tabus  in  the  matter  of 
diet.  The  Orehu  are  water-sprites,  female  like  the  mermaids, 
and  they  sometimes  drag  man  and  canoe  down  to  the  depths 
of  their  aquatic  haunts;  yet  they  are  not  altogether  evil,  for 
Brett  tells  a  story,  characteristically  American  Indian,  of  the 
origin  of  a  medicine-mystery.  In  very  ancient  times,  when 
the  Yauhahu  inflicted  continual  misery  on  mankind,  an  Ara- 
wak, walking  besides  the  water  and  brooding  over  the  sad  case 
of  his  people,  beheld  an  Orehu  rise  from  the  stream,  bearing 
in  her  hand  a  branch  which  he  planted  as  she  bade  him,  its 
fruit  being  the  calabash,  till  then  unknown.  Again  she  ap- 
peared, bringing  small  white  pebbles,  which  she  instructed 
him  to  enclose  in  the  gourd,  thus  making  the  magic-working 
rattle;  and  instructing  him  in  its  use  and  in  the  mysteries  of  the 
Semecihi,  this  order  was  established  among  the  tribes.  The 
"Semecihi"  are  of  course,  the  medicine-men  of  the  Arawak, 
corresponding  to  the  Carib  peaimen,  though  the  word  itself 
would  seem  to  be  related  to  the  Tai'no  zemi.  Relation  to  the 
Islanders  is,  indeed,  suggested  by  the  whole  myth,  for  the 
Orehu  is  surely  only  the  mainland  equivalent  for  the  Haitian 
woman-of-the-sea,  Guabonito,  who  taught  the  medicine-hero, 
Guagugiana,  the  use  of  amulets  of  white  stones  and  of  gold. 

III.    HOW  EVILS   BEFELL  MANKIND 

Not  many  primitive  legends  are  more  dramatically  vivid  than 
the  Carib  story  of  Maconaura  and  Anuanai'tu,10  and  few  myths 
give  a  wider  insight  into  the  ideas  and  customs  of  a  people.  The 
theme  of  the  tale  is  very  clearly  the  coming  of  evil  as  the  conse- 


262  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

quence  of  a  woman's  deed,  although  the  motive  of  her  action 
is  not  mere  curiosity,  as  in  the  tale  of  Pandora,  but  the  more 
potent  passion  of  revenge  —  or,  rather,  of  that  vengeful  retribu- 
tion of  the  lex  talionis  which  is  the  primitive  image  of  justice. 
In  an  intimate  fashion,  too,  the  story  gives  us  the  spirit  of 
Kenaima  at  work,  while  its  denouement  suggests  that  the  rest- 
less Orehu,  the  Woman  of  the  Waters,  may  be  none  other  than 
the  authoress  of  evil,  the  liberatress  of  ills. 

In  a  time  long  past,  so  long  past  that  even  the  grandmothers 
of  our  grandmothers  were  not  yet  born,  the  Caribs  of  Surinam 
say,  the  world  was  quite  other  than  what  it  is  today :  the  trees 
were  forever  in  fruit;  the  animals  lived  in  perfect  harmony, 
and  the  little  agouti  played  fearlessly  with  the  beard  of  the 
jaguar;  the  serpents  had  no  venom;  the  rivers  flowed  evenly, 
without  drought  or  flood;  and  even  the  waters  of  cascades 
glided  gently  down  from  the  high  rocks.  No  human  creature 
had  as  yet  come  into  life,  and  Adaheli,  whom  now  we  invoke  as 
God,  but  who  then  was  called  the  Sun,  was  troubled.  He  de- 
scended from  the  skies,  and  shortly  after  man  was  born  from 
the  cayman,  born,  men  and  women,  in  the  two  sexes.  The 
females  were  all  of  a  ravishing  beauty,  but  many  of  the  males 
had  repellent  features;  and  this  was  the  cause  of  their  dis- 
persion, since  the  men  of  fair  visage,  unable  to  endure  dwelling 
with  their  ugly  fellows,  separated  from  them,  going  to  the  West, 
while  the  hideous  men  went  to  the  East,  each  party  taking 
the  wives  whom  they  had  chosen. 

Now  in  the  tribe  of  the  handsome  Indians  lived  a  certain 
young  man,  Maconaura,  and  his  aged  mother.  The  youth  was 
altogether  charming  —  tall  and  graceful,  with  no  equal  in  hunt- 
ing and  fishing,  while  all  men  brought  their  baskets  to  him  for 
the  final  touch;  nor  was  his  old  mother  less  skilled  in  the  mak- 
ing of  hammocks,  preparation  of  cassava,  or  brewing  of  tapana. 
They  lived  in  harmony  with  one  another  and  with  all  their 
tribe,  suffering  neither  from  excessive  heat  nor  from  foggy 
chill,  and  free  from  evil  beasts,  for  none  existed  in  that  region. 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  263 

One  day,  however,  Maconaura  found  his  basket-net  broken 
and  his  fish  devoured,  a  thing  such  as  had  never  happened  in 
the  history  of  the  tribe;  and  so  he  placed  a  woodpecker  on 
guard  when  next  he  set  his  trap;  but  though  he  ran  with  all 
haste  when  he  heard  the  toe!  toe!  of  the  signal,  he  came  too 
late;  again  the  fish  were  devoured,  and  the  net  was  broken. 
With  cuckoo  as  guard  he  fared  better,  for  when  he  heard  the 
pon!  pon!  which  was  this  bird's  signal,  he  arrived  in  time  to 
send  an  arrow  between  the  ugly  eyes  of  a  cayman,  which  dis- 
appeared beneath  the  waters  with  a  glou!  glou!  Maconaura 
repaired  his  basket-net  and  departed,  only  to  hear  again  the 
signal,  pon!  pon!  Returning,  he  found  a  beautiful  Indian 
maiden  in  tears.  "Who  are  you?"  he  asked.  "Anuanaitu," 
she  replied.  "Whence  come  you?"  "From  far,  far."  "Who 
are  your  kindred?"  "Oh,  ask  me  not  that!"  and  she  covered 
her  face  with  her  hands. 

The  maiden,  who  was  little  more  than  a  child,  lived  with 
Maconaura  and  his  mother;  and  as  she  grew,  she  increased  in 
beauty,  so  that  Maconaura  desired  to  wed  her.  At  first  she  re- 
fused with  tears,  but  finally  she  consented,  though  the  union 
lacked  correctness  in  that  Maconaura  had  not  secured  the 
consent  of  her  parents,  whose  name  she  still  refused  to  divulge. 
For  a  while  the  married  pair  lived  happily  until  Anuanaitu  was 
seized  with  a  great  desire  to  visit  her  mother;  but  when  Ma- 
conaura would  go  with  her,  she,  in  terror,  urged  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  trip,  only  to  find  her  husband  so  determined  that 
he  said,  "Then  I  will  go  alone  to  ask  you  in  marriage  of  your 
kin."  "Never,  never  that!"  cried  Anuanaitu;  "That  would 
be  to  destroy  us  all,  us  two  and  your  dear  mother!"  But  Ma- 
conaura was  not  to  be  dissuaded,  for  he  had  consulted  a  peaiman 
who  had  assured  him  that  he  would  return  safely;  and  so  he 
set  forth  with  his  bride. 

After  several  weeks  their  canoe  reached  an  encampment, 
and  Anuanaitu  said:  "We  are  arrived;  I  will  go  in  search  of  my 
mother.  She  will  bring  to  you  a  gourd  filled  with  blood  and 


264  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

raw  meat,  and  another  filled  with  beltiri  [a  fermented  liquor] 
and  cassava  bread.  Our  lot  depends  on  your  choice."  The 
young  man,  when  his  mother-in-law  appeared,  unhesitatingly 
took  the  beltiri  and  bread,  whereupon  the  old  woman  said, 
"You  have  chosen  well;  I  give  my  consent  to  your  marriage, 
but  I  fear  that  my  husband  will  oppose  it  strongly."  Kai- 
koutji  ("Jaguar")  was  the  husband's  name.  The  two  women 
went  in  advance  to  test  his  temper  toward  Maconaura's  suit; 
but  his  rage  was  great,  and  it  was  necessary  to  hide  the  youth 
in  the  forest  until  at  last  Kaikoutji  was  mollified  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  consented  to  see  the  young  man,  only  to  have 
his  anger  roused  again  at  the  sight,  so  that  he  cried,  "How 
dare  you  approach  me?"  Maconaura  responded:  "True,  my 
marriage  with  your  daughter  is  not  according  to  the  rites.  But 
I  am  come  to  make  reparation.  I  will  make  for  you  whatever 
you  desire."  "Make  me,  then,"  cried  the  other  contemptuously, 
"a  halla  [sorcerer's  stool]  with  the  head  of  a  jaguar  on  one 
side  and  my  portrait  on  the  other."  By  midnight  Maconaura 
had  completed  the  work,  excepting  for  the  portrait;  but  here 
was  a  difficulty,  for  Kaikoutji  kept  his  head  covered  with  a 
calabash,  pierced  only  with  eye-holes;  and  when  Maconaura 
asked  his  wife  to  describe  her  parent,  she  replied:  "Impossible! 
My  father  is  a  peaiman;  he  knows  all;  he  would  kill  us  both." 
Maconaura  concealed  himself  near  the  hammock  of  his  father- 
in-law,  in  hopes  of  seeing  his  face;  and  first,  a  louse,  then,  a 
spider,  came  to  annoy  Kaikoutji,  who  killed  them  both  with- 
out showing  his  visage.  Finally,  however,  an  army  of  ants 
attacked  him  furiously,  and  the  peaiman,  rising  up  in  conster- 
nation, revealed  himself  —  his  whole  horrible  head.  Ma- 
conaura appeared  with  the  halla,  completed,  when  morning 
came.  "That  will  not  suffice,"  said  Kaikoutji,  "in  a  single 
night  you  must  make  for  me  a  lodge  formed  entirely  of  the 
most  beautiful  feathers."  The  young  man  felt  himself  lost, 
but  multitudes  of  humming-birds  and  jacamars  and  others  of 
brilliant  plumage  cast  their  feathers  down  to  him,  so  that  the 


PLATE  XXXIX 

1.  Stone  seat  from  Manabi,  Ecuador.     See  page 
206.    After  Saville,  Antiquities  of  Manabi,  Ecuador, 
Vol.  II,  Plate  XXXVIII. 

2.  Painted  wooden  seat  from  Guiana  —  such  a 
holla  as  is  referred  to  in  the  tale  of  Maconaura  and 
Anuanaitu,  page  264.     After  30  ARBE,  Plate  V. 

3.  Central  American  carved  stone  metate  in  the 
collection  of  Geo.  S.  Walsh,  Lincoln,  Neb. 


\ 


Y 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  265 

lodge  was  finished  before  daybreak,  whereupon  Maconaura 
was  received  as  the  recognized  husband  of  Anuanaitu. 

The  time  soon  came,  however,  when  he  wished  again  to  see 
his  mother,  but  as  Kaikoutji  refused  to  allow  Anuanaitu  to 
accompany  the  youth,  he  set  off  alone.  Happy  days  were  spent 
at  home,  he  telling  his  adventures,  the  mother  recounting  the 
tales  of  long  ago  which  had  been  dimly  returning  to  her  troubled 
memory;  and  when  Maconaura  would  return  to  his  wife,  the 
old  mother  begged  him  to  stay,  while  the  peaiman  warned  him 
of  danger;  but  he  was  resolved  and  departed  once  more,  telling 
his  mother  that  he  would  send  her  each  day  a  bird  to  apprise 
her  of  his  condition:  if  the  owl  came,  she  would  know  him 
lost.  Arrived  at  the  home  of  Anuanaitu,  he  was  met  by  his 
wife  and  mother-in-law,  in  tears,  with  the  warning:  "Away! 
quickly!  Kaikoutji  is  furious  at  the  news  he  has  received!" 
Nevertheless  Maconaura  went  on,  and  at  the  threshold  of  the 
lodge  was  met  by  Kaikoutji,  who  felling  him  with  a  blow,  thrust 
an  arrow  between  his  eyes.  Meantime  Maconaura's  mother 
had  been  hearing  daily  the  mournful  bouta!  bouta!  of  the  oto- 
lin;  but  one  day  this  was  succeeded  by  the  dismal  popopo!  of 
the  owl,  and  knowing  that  her  son  was  dead,  she,  led  by  the 
bird  of  ill  tidings,  found  first  the  young  man's  canoe  and 
then  his  hidden  body,  with  which  she  returned  sadly  to  her 
own  people. 

The  men  covered  the  corpse  with  a  pall  of  beautiful  feathers, 
placing  about  it  Maconaura's  arms  and  utensils;  the  women 
prepared  the  tapana  for  the  funeral  feast;  and  all  assembled  to 
hear  the  funeral  chant,  the  last  farewell  of  mother  to  son. 
She  recounted  the  tragic  tale  of  his  love  and  death,  and  then, 
raising  the  cup  of  tapana  to  her  lips,  she  cried:  "Who  has  ex- 
tinguished the  light  of  my  son?  Who  has  sent  him  into  the 
valley  of  shades  ?  Woe !  woe  to  him !  .  .  .  Alas !  you  see  in  me, 
O  friends  and  brothers,  only  a  poor,  weak  old  woman.  I  can 
do  nothing.  Who  of  you  will  avenge  me  ? "  Forthwith  two  men 
sprang  forward,  seized  the  cup,  and  emptied  it;  beside  the 


266  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

corpse  they  intoned  the  Kenaima  song,  dancing  the  dance  of 
vengeance;  and  into  one  of  them  the  soul  of  a  boa  constrictor 
entered,  into  the  other  that  of  a  jaguar. 

The  great  feast  of  tapana  was  being  held  at  the  village  of 
Kaikoutji,  where  hundreds  of  natives  were  gathered,  men, 
women,  and  children.  They  drank  and  vomited;  drank  and 
vomited  again;  till  finally  all  were  drunken.  Then  two  men 
came,  one  in  the  hide  of  a  jaguar,  the  other  in  the  mottled 
scales  of  a  boa  constrictor;  and  in  an  instant  Kaikoutji  and  all 
about  him  were  struck  down,  some  crushed  by  the  jaguar's 
blows,  others  strangled  in  snaky  folds.  Nevertheless  fear  had 
rescued  some  from  their  drunkenness;  and  they  seized  their 
bows,  threatening  the  assailants  with  hundreds  of  arrows, 
whereupon  the  two  Kenaima  ceased  their  attack,  while  one  of 
them  cried:  "Hold,  friends!  we  are  in  your  hands,  but  let  us 
first  speak!"  Then  he  recounted  the  tale  of  Maconaura,  and 
when  he  had  ceased,  an  old  peaiman  advanced,  saying:  "Young 
men,  you  have  spoken  well.  We  receive  you  as  friends." 

The  feast  was  renewed  more  heartily  than  ever,  but  though 
Anuanai'tu,  in  her  grief,  had  remained  away,  she  now  advanced, 
searching  among  the  corpses.  She  examined  them,  one  by  one, 
with  dry  eyes;  but  at  last  she  paused  beside  a  body,  her  eyes 
filled  with  tears,  and  seating  herself,  long,  long  she  chanted 
plaintively  the  praises  of  the  dead.  Suddenly  she  leaped  up, 
with  hair  bristling  and  with  face  of  fire,  in  vibrant  voice  in- 
toning the  terrible  Kenaima;  and  as  she  danced,  the  soul  of  a 
rattlesnake  entered  into  her. 

Meantime,  in  the  other  village,  the  people  were  celebrating 
the  tapana,  delirious  with  joy  for  the  vengeance  taken,  while 
the  mother  of  Maconaura,  overcome  by  drink,  lay  in  her  ham- 
mock, dreaming  of  her  son.  Anuanai'tu  entered,  possessed, 
but  she  drew  back  moved  when  she  heard  her  name  pronounced 
by  the  dreaming  woman:  "Anuanai'tu,  my  child,  you  are  good, 
as  was  also  your  mother!  But  why  come  you  hither?  My  son, 
whom  you  have  lost,  is  no  more  .  .  .  O  son  Maconaura,  re- 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  267 

joice !  Thou  art  happy,  now,  for  thou  art  avenged  in  the  blood  of 
thy  murderers!  Ah,  yes,  thou  art  well  avenged!"  During  this 
Anuanaitu  felt  in  her  soul  a  dread  conflict,  the  call  of  love 
struggling  with  the  call  of  duty;  but  at  the  words,  "avenged 
in  blood,"  she  restrained  herself  no  longer,  and  throwing  her- 
self upon  the  old  woman,  she  drew  her  tongue  from  her  mouth, 
striking  it  with  venomous  poison;  and  leaning  over  her  agonized 
victim,  she  spoke:  "The  cayman  which  your  son  killed  beside 
the  basket-net  was  my  brother.  Like  my  father,  he  had  a  cay- 
man's head.  I  would  pardon  that.  My  father  avenged  his 
son's  death  in  inflicting  on  yours  the  same  doom  that  he  had 
dealt  —  an  arrow  between  the  eyes.  Your  kindred  have  slain 
my  father  and  all  mine.  I  would  have  pardoned  that,  too, 
had  they  but  spared  my  mother.  Maconaura  is  the  cause  that 
what  is  most  dear  to  me  in  the  world  is  perished;  and  robbing 
him  in  my  turn,  I  immolate  what  he  held  most  precious!" 

Uttering  a  terrible  cry,  she  fled  into  the  forest;  and  at  the 
sound  a  change  unprecedented  occurred  throughout  all  nature. 
The  winds  responded  with  a  tempest  which  struck  down  the 
trees  and  uprooted  the  very  oaks;  thick  clouds  veiled  the  face 
of  Adaheli,  while  sinister  lightnings  and  the  roar  of  thunders 
filled  the  tenebrous  world;  a  deluge  of  rain  mingled  with  the 
floods  of  rivers.  The  animals,  until  then  peaceable,  fell  upon 
and  devoured  one  another:  the  serpent  struck  with  his  venom, 
the  cayman  made  his  terrible  jaws  to  crash,  the  jaguar  tore 
the  flesh  of  the  harmless  agouti.  Anuanaitu,  followed  by  the 
savage  hosts  of  the  forest,  pursued  her  insensate  course  until 
she  arrived  at  the  summit  of  an  enormous  rock,  whence  gushed 
a  cascade;  and  there,  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice,  she  stretched 
forth  her  arms,  leaned  forward,  and  plunged  into  the  depths. 
The  waters  received  her  and  closed  over  her;  nought  was  to  be 
seen  but  a  terrifying  whirlpool. 

If  today  some  stranger  pass  beside  a  certain  cascade,  the 
Carib  native  will  warn  him  not  to  speak  its  name.  That  would 
be  his  infallible  death,  for  at  the  bottom  of  these  waters  Ma- 


268  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

conaura   and   Anuana'itu    dwell   together   in   the   marvellous 
palace  of  her  who  is  the  Soul  of  the  Waters. 

It  is  not  merely  the  artistic  symmetry  of  this  tale  —  which 
may  be  due  as  much  to  the  clever  rendering  by  Father  van 
Coll  as  to  the  genius  of  the  savage  raconteur  —  that  justifies 
giving  it  at  length.  It  is  a  wonderfully  instructive  picture  of 
savage  life,  emotions,  and  customs;  and  a  full  commentary 
upon  it  would  lead  to  an  exposition  of  most  that  we  know  of 
the  customs  and  thought  of  the  Orinoco  aborigines  —  such 
practices,  for  example,  as  ini  Thurn  describes:  the  putting  of 
red  pepper  in  one's  eyes  to  propitiate  the  spirits  of  rapids  one 
is  about  to  shoot;  the  method  of  Kenaima  murder  by  pricking 
the  tongue  with  poison;  the  perpetual  vendetta  which  to  the 
savage  seems  to  hold  not  only  between  tribe  and  tribe  of  men, 
but  also  between  tribe  and  tribe  of  animals;  the  tapana  feasts 
in  which  men  become  inspired;  or  again,  such  mythic  and 
religious  conceptions  as  the  cult  of  the  jaguar  and  cayman, 
extending  far  throughout  South  and  Central  America ;  the  still 
more  universal  notion  of  a  community  of  First  People,  part 
man,  part  animal;  the  ominous  birds  and  animal  helpers;  the 
central  story  of  the  visit  of  the  hero-youth  to  the  ogreish  father- 
in-law,  and  of  the  trials  to  which  he  is  subjected.  In  these  and 
in  other  respects  the  story  is  of  interest;  but  its  chief  attraction 
is  surely  in  the  fact  that  here  we  have  an  American  Job  or 
(EdipuSj  presenting,  as  Job  presents,  the  problem  of  evil;  and, 
like  Greek  tragedy,  portraying  the  harsh  conflict  between  the 
inexorable  justice  of  the  law  of  retribution  and  the  loves  and 
mercies  which  combat  it,  in  the  savage  heart  perhaps  not  less 
than  in  the  civilized. 

IV.    CREATION  AND   CATACLYSM 

Both  creation  and  cataclysm  appear  in  the  story  of  Maco- 
naura  and  Anuanaitu,  but  this  legend  is  only  one  among  sev- 
eral tales  of  the  kind  gathered  from  various  groups  of  Orinoco 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  269 

natives,  the  fullest  collection,  "'old  peoples'  stories,'  as  the 
rising  race  somewhat  contemptuously  call  them,"  being  given 
by  Brett.  The  creation  myths  are  of  the  two  familiar  American 
types:  true  creations  out  of  the  void,  and  migrations  of  First 
Beings  into  a  new  land;  while  transformation-incidents,  and 
especially  the  doughty  deeds  of  the  Transformer-Hero,  a  true 
demiurge,  are  characteristic  of  traditions  of  each  type. 

The  Ackawoi  make  their  Makonaima  the  creator,  and  Sigu, 
his  son,  the  hero,  in  a  tale  which,  says  Brett,11  they  repeat 
"while  striving  to  maintain  a  very  grave  aspect,  as  befitting 
the  general  nature  of  the  subject."  "In  the  beginning  of  this 
world  the  birds  and  beasts  were  created  by  Makonaima,  — 
the  great  spirit  whom  no  man  hath  seen.  They,  at  that  time, 
were  all  endowed  with  the  gift  of  speech.  Sigu,  the  son  of 
Makonaima,  was  placed  to  rule  over  them.  All  lived  in  har- 
mony together  and  submitted  to  his  gentle  dominion."  Here 
we  have  the  usual  sequence:  the  generation  of  the  world,  fol- 
lowed by  the  Golden  Age,  with  its  vocal  animals  and  universal 
peace;  while  as  a  surprise  to  his  subject  creatures,  Makonaima 
caused  a  wonderful  tree,  bearing  all  good  fruits,  to  spring  from 
the  earth  —  the  tree  which  was  the  origin  of  all  cultivated 
plants.  The  acouri  first  discovered  this  tree,  selfishly  trying 
to  keep  the  secret  to  himself;  and  the  woodpecker,  set  by  Sigu 
to  trace  the  acouri,  proved  a  poor  spy,  since  his  tapping  warned 
it  of  his  presence;  but  when  the  rat  solved  the  mystery,  Sigu 
determined  to  fell  the  tree  and  plant  its  fruits  broadcast. 
Only  the  lazy  monkey  refused  to  assist,  and  even  mischie- 
vously hindered  the  others,  so  that  Sigu,  provoked,  put  him  at 
the  task  of  the  Danai'des  —  to  fetch  water  in  a  basket-sieve. 
The  stump  of  the  tree  proved  to  be  filled  with  water,  stocked 
with  every  kind  of  fish  and  from  its  riches  Sigu  proposed  to 
supply  all  streams;  but  the  waters  began  of  themselves  to  flow 
so  copiously  that  he  was  compelled  hastily  to  cover  the  top 
with  a  basket  which  the  mischievous  monkey  discovered;  and 
raising  it,  the  deluge  poured  forth.  To  save  the  animals,  Sigu 


270  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

sealed  in  a  cave  those  which  could  not  climb;  the  others  he 
took  with  him  into  a  high  cocorite  tree,  where  they  remained 
through  a  long  and  uncomfortable  night,  Sigu  dropping  cocorite 
seeds  from  time  to  time  to  judge  by  the  splash  if  the  waters 
were  receding,  until  finally  the  sound  was  no  longer  heard, 
and  with  the  return  of  day  the  animals  descended  to  repeople 
the  earth.  But  they  were  no  longer  the  same.  The  arauta  still 
howls  his  discomfort  from  the  trees;  the  trumpeter-bird,  too 
greedily  descending  into  the  food-rich  mud,  had  his  legs,  till 
then  respectable,  so  devoured  by  ants  that  they  have  ever 
since  been  bonily  thin;  the  bush-fowl  snapped  up  the  spark  of 
fire  which  Sigu  laboriously  kindled,  and  got  his  red  wattle  for 
his  greed;  while  the  alligator  had  his  tongue  pulled  out  for 
lying  (it  is  a  common  belief  that  the  cayman  is  tongueless). 
Thus  the  world  became  what  it  is. 

A  second  part  of  the  tale  tells  how  Sigu  was  persecuted  by 
two  wicked  brothers  who  beat  him  to  death,  burned  him  to 
ashes,  and  buried  him.  Nevertheless,  each  time  he  rose  again 
to  life  and  finally  ascended  a  high  hill  which  grew  upward  as  he 
mounted  until  he  disappeared  in  the  sky. 

Probably  the  most  far-known  mythic  hero  of  this  region  is 
Amalivaca,  a  Carib  demiurge,  concerning  whom  Humboldt 
reports  various  beliefs  of  the  Tamanac  (a  Cariban  tribe). 
According  to  Humboldt,12  "the  name  Amalivaca  is  spread  over 
a  region  of  more  than  five  thousand  square  leagues;  he  is 
found  designated  as  'the  father  of  mankind,' or  'our  great-grand- 
father' as  far  as  the  Caribbee  nations";  and  he  likens  him  to 
the  Aztec  Quetzalcoatl.  It  is  in  connexion  with  the  petro- 
glyphs  of  their  territory  (similar  rock-carvings  are  found  far 
into  the  Antilles,  the  "painted  cave"  in  which  the  Earth  God- 
dess was  worshipped  in  Haiti  being,  no  doubt,  an  example) 
that  the  Tamanac  give  motive  to  their  tale.  Amalivaca,  father 
of  the  Tamanac,  arrived  in  a  canoe  in  the  time  of  the  deluge, 
and  he  engraved  images,  still  to  be  seen,  of  the  sun  and  the 
moon  and  the  animals  high  upon  the  rocks  of  Encaramada. 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  271 

From  this  deluge  one  man  and  one  woman  were  saved  on  a 
mountain  called  Tamancu  —  the  Tamanac  Ararat  —  and 
"casting  behind  them,  over  their  heads,  the  fruits  of  the  mauri- 
tia  palm-tree,  they  saw  the  seeds  contained  in  those  fruits  pro- 
duce men  and  women,  who  repeopled  the  earth."  After  many 
deeds,  in  which  Amalivaca  regulated  the  world  in  true  heroic 
fashion,  he  departed  to  the  shores  beyond  the  seas,  whence  he 
came  and  where  he  is  supposed  still  to  dwell. 

Another  myth,  of  the  Cariban  stock,13  tells  how  Makonaima, 
having  created  heaven  and  earth,  sat  on  a  silk-cotton-tree  by  a 
river,  and  cutting  off  pieces  of  its  bark,  cast  them  about,  those 
which  touched  the  water  becoming  fish,  and  others  flying  in  the 
air  as  birds,  while  from  those  that  fell  on  land  arose  animals 
and  men.  Boddam-Whetham  gives  a  later  addition,  account- 
ing for  the  races  of  men:  "The  Great  Spirit  Makanaima  made 
a  large  mould,  and  out  of  this  fresh,  clean  clay  the  white  man 
stepped.  After  it  got  a  little  dirty  the  Indian  was  formed,  and 
the  Spirit  being  called  away  on  business  for  a  long  period  the 
mould  became  black  and  unclean,  and  out  of  it  walked  the 
negro."  As  in  case  of  other  demiurges,  there  are  many  stories 
of  the  transformations  wrought  by  Makonaima. 

It  is  from  the  Warau  that  Brett  obtains  a  story  of  a  descent 
from  the  sky-world  —  a  tale  which  has  many  replications  in 
other  parts  of  America,  and  of  which  there  are  other  Orinoco 
variants.  Long  ago,  when  the  Warau  lived  in  the  happy  hunt- 
ing-grounds above  the  sky,  Okonorote,  a  young  hunter,  shot  an 
arrow  which  missed  its  mark  and  was  lost;  searching  for  it, 
he  found  a  hole  through  which  it  had  fallen;  and  looking  down, 
he  beheld  the  earth  beneath,  with  game-filled  forests  and  sa- 
vannahs. By  means  of  a  cotton  rope  he  visited  the  lands  below, 
and  upon  his  return  his  reports  were  such  as  to  induce  the 
whole  Warau  tribe  to  follow  him  thither;  but  one  unlucky  dame, 
too  stout  to  squeeze  through,  was  stuck  in  the  hole,  and  the 
Warau  were  thus  prevented  from  ever  returning  to  the  sky- 
world.  Since  the  lower  world  was  exceedingly  arid,  the  great 


272  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Spirit  created  a  small  lake  of  delicious  water,  but  forbade  the 
people  to  bathe  in  it  —  this  to  test  their  obedience.  A  certain 
family,  consisting  of  four  brothers  —  Kororoma,  Kororomana, 
Kororomatu,  and  Kororomatitu  —  and  two  sisters  —  Korobona 
and  Korobonako  —  dwelt  beside  this  mere;  the  men  obeyed 
the  injunction  as  to  bathing,  but  the  two  sisters  entered  the 
water,  and  one  of  them  swimming  to  the  centre  of  the  lake, 
touched  a  pole  which  was  planted  there.  The  spirit  of  the  pool, 
who  had  been  bound  by  the  pole,  was  immediately  released; 
and  seizing  the  maiden,  he  bore  her  to  his  sub-aquatic  den, 
whence  she  returned  home  pregnant;  but  the  child,  when  born, 
was  normal  and  was  allowed  to  live.  Again  she  visited  the 
water  demon  and  once  more  brought  forth  a  child,  but  this 
one  was  only  partly  human,  the  lower  portion  of  the  body  being 
that  of  a  serpent.  The  brothers  slew  the  monster  with  arrows ; 
but  after  Korobona  had  nursed  it  to  life  in  the  concealment  of 
the  forest,  the  brothers,  having  discovered  the  secret,  again 
killed  the  serpent-being,  this  time  cutting  it  in  pieces.  Koro- 
bona carefully  collected  and  buried  all  the  fragments  of  her 
offspring's  body,  covering  them  with  leaves  and  vegetable 
mould;  and  she  guarded  the  grave  assiduously  until  finally 
from  it  arose  a  terrible  warrior,  brilliant  red  in  colour,  armed 
for  battle,  this  warrior  being  the  first  Carib,  who  forthwith 
drove  from  their  ancient  hunting-grounds  the  whole  Warau 
tribe. 

This  myth  contains  a  number  of  interesting  features.  It  is 
obviously  invented  in  part  to  explain  why  the  Warau  (who  are 
execrated  by  whites  and  natives  alike  for  their  dirtiness)  do  not 
bathe;  and  it  no  doubt  reflects  their  actual  yielding  before  the 
invading  Carib  tribes.  The  Kororomana  of  the  story  can 
scarcely  be  other  in  origin  that  the  Kururumany  whom  Schom- 
burgk  states  to  be  the  Arawak  creator;  while  the  whole  group 
of  four  brothers  are  plausibly  continental  forms  of  the  Haitian 
Caracarols,  the  shell-people  who  brought  about  the  flood.  The 
incident  of  the  corpulent  or  pregnant  woman  (im  Thurn  gives 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  273 

the  latter  version)  stopping  the  egress  of  the  primitive  people 
from  their  first  home  appears  in  Kiowa,  Mandan,  and  Pueblo 
tales  in  North  America;  while  the  pole  rising  from  the  lake  has 
analogues  in  the  Californian  and  North-West  Coast  regions. 
Im  Thurn  states  that  the  Carib  have  a  variant  of  this  same 
story,  in  which  they  assign  as  the  reason  for  the  descent  of 
their  forefathers  from  Paradise  their  desire  to  cleanse  the  dirty 
and  disordered  world  below  —  an  amusing  complement  to  the 
Warau  notion! 

The  Warau  have  also  their  national  hero,  Abore,  who  has 
something  of  the  character  of  a  true  culture  hero.  Wowta,  the 
evil  Frog- Woman,  made  Abore  her  slave  while  he  was  yet  a  boy, 
and  when  he  grew  up,  she  wished  to  marry  him;  but  he  cleverly 
trapped  her  by  luring  her  into  a  hollow  tree  filled  with  honey,  of 
which  she  was  desperately  fond,  and  there  wedging  her  fast. 
He  then  made  a  canoe  and  paddled  to  sea  to  appear  no  more, 
though  the  Warau  believe  that  he  reached  the  land  of  the 
white  men  and  taught  them  the  arts  of  life;  Wowta  escaped 
from  the  tree  only  by  taking  the  form  of  a  frog,  and  her  dismal 
croaking  is  still  heard  in  the  woods. 

From  the  tribes  of  this  region  come  various  other  myths,  be- 
longing, apparently,  to  the  cosmogonic  and  demiurgic  cycles. 
The  Arawak  tell  of  two  destructions  of  the  earth,  once  by 
flame  and  once  by  fire,  each  because  men  disobeyed  the  will 
of  the  Dweller-on-High,  Aiomun  Kondi;  and  they  also  have 
a  Noachian  hero,  Marerewana,  who  saved  himself  and  his 
family  during  the  deluge  by  tying  his  canoe  with  a  rope  of 
great  length  to  a  large  tree.  Another  Arawak  tale  begins  with 
the  incident  which  opens  the  story  of  Maconaura.  The  Sun 
built  a  dam  to  retain  the  fish  in  a  certain  place;  but  since, 
during  his  absence,  it  was  broken,  so  that  the  fish  escaped,  he 
set  the  Woodpecker  to  watch,  and,  summoned  by  the  bird's 
loud  tapping,  arrived  in  time  to  slay  the  alligator  that  was  de- 
stroying his  preserves,  the  reptile's  scales  being  marks  made  by 
the  club  wielded  by  the  Sun.  Another  tale,  of  which  there  are 


274  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

both  Arawak  and  Carib  versions,  tells  how  a  young  man  married 
a  vulture  and  lived  in  the  sky-land,  revisiting  his  own  people 
by  means  of  a  rope  which  the  spiders  spun  for  him;  but  as  the 
vultures  would  thereafter  have  nothing  to  do  with  him,  with 
the  aid  of  other  birds  he  made  war  upon  them  and  burned 
their  settlement.  In  this  combat  the  various  birds,  by  injury 
or  guile,  received  the  marks  which  they  yet  bear;  the  owl 
found  a  package  which  he  greedily  kept  to  himself;  opening  it, 
the  darkness  came  out,  and  has  been  his  ever  since.  In  the 
Surinam  version,  given  by  van  Coll,14  the  hero  of  the  tale  is  a 
peaiman,  Maconaholo,  and  the  story  contains  some  of  the 
incidents  of  the  Maconaura  tale.  Two  other  traditions  given 
by  the  same  author  are  of  special  interest  from  the  comparative 
point  of  view.  One  is  the  legend  of  an  anchorite  who  had  a 
wonderfully  faithful  dog.  Wandering  in  the  forest,  the  hermit 
discovered  a  finely  cultivated  field,  with  cassava  and  other  food 
plants,  and  thinking,  "Who  has  prepared  all  this  for  me?"  he 
concealed  himself  in  order  to  discover  who  might  be  his  bene- 
factor, when  behold!  his  faithful  dog  appeared,  transformed 
herself  into  a  human  being,  laid  aside  her  dog's  skin,  busied 
herself  with  the  toil  of  cultivation,  and,  the  task  accomplished, 
again  resumed  her  canine  form.  The  native,  carefully  preparing, 
concealed  himself  anew,  and  when  the  dog  came  once  more,  he 
slyly  stole  the  skin,  carried  it  away  in  a  courou-courou  (a  woman's 
harvesting  basket),  and  burned  it,  after  which  the  cultivator, 
compelled  to  retain  woman's  form,  became  his  faithful  wife 
and  the  mother  of  a  large  family.  It  would  appear  that,  from 
an  aboriginal  point  of  view,  both  dog  and  woman  are  compli- 
mented by  this  tale. 

The  second  tale  of  special  interest  is  a  Surinam  equivalent 
of  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel.  Of  three  brothers,  Halwanli,  the 
eldest,  was  lord  of  all  things  inanimate  and  irrational;  Our- 
wanama,  the  second,  was  a  tiller  of  fields,  a  brewer  of  liquors, 
and  the  husband  of  two  wives ;  Hiwanama,  the  youngest,  was  a 
huntsman.  One  day  Hiwanama,  chancing  upon  the  territory  of 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  275 

Ourwanama,  met  one  of  his  brother's  wives,  who  first  intoxi- 
cated him  and  then  seduced  him,  while  in  revenge  for  this 
injury  Ourwanama  banished  his  brother,  lying  to  his  mother 
when  she  demanded  the  lost  son.  Afterward  Ourwanama's 
wives  were  transformed,  the  one  into  a  bird,  the  other  into  a 
fish;  he  himself,  seized  by  the  sea,  was  dragged  to  its  depth; 
and  the  desolate  mother  bemoaned  her  lost  children  till  finally 
Halwanli,  going  in  search  of  Hiwanama,  whom  he  found  among 
the  serpents  and  other  reptiles  of  the  lower  world,  brought  him 
back  to  become  the  greatest  of  peaimen. 


V.  NATURE  AND  HUMAN  NATURE 

A  missionary  whom  Humboldt  quotes  declares  that  a  native 
said  to  him: 15  "Your  God  keeps  himself  shut  up  in  a  house,  as 
if  he  were  old  and  infirm;  ours  is  in  the  forest,  in  the  fields,  and 
on  the  mountains  of  Sipapu,  whence  the  rains  come";  and 
Humboldt  remarks  in  comment  that  the  Indians  conceive  with 
difficulty  the  idea  of  a  temple  or  an  image:  "on  the  banks  of  the 
Orinoco  there  exists  no  idol,  as  among  all  the  nations  who  have 
remained  faithful  to  the  first  worship  of  nature." 

There  is  an  echo  of  the  eighteenth  century  philosophy  of  an 
idyllic  primitive  age  in  this  statement,  but  there  is  truth  in  it, 
too;  for  throughout  the  forest  regions  of  tropical  America 
idols  are  of  rare  occurrence,  while  shrines,  if  such  they  may  be 
called,  are  confined  to  places  of  natural  marvel,  the  wandering 
tribes  being  true  nature  worshippers,  with  eyes  ever  open  for 
tokens  of  mysterious  power.  Fetishes  or  talismans  are,  how- 
ever, common;  and  in  this  very  connexion  Humboldt  mentions 
the  botuto,  or  sacred  trumpet,  as  an  object  of  veneration  to 
which  fruits  and  intoxicating  liquors  were  offered;  sometimes 
the  Great  Spirit  himself  makes  the  botuto  to  resound,  and,  as 
in  so  many  other  parts  of  the  world,  women  are  put  to  death 
if  they  but  see  this  sacrosanct  instrument  or  the  ceremonies 
of  its  cult  (and  here  we  are  in  the  very  presence  of  Mumbo 


276  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Jumbo!).  Certainly  the  use  of  the  fetish-trumpet  was  wide- 
spread in  South  America  and  northward.  Garcilasso  tells  of 
the  use  of  dog-headed  battle-trumpets  by  the  wild  tribes  of 
Andean  regions;  while  Boddam-Whetham  affords  us  another 
indication  of  the  trumpet's  significance:16  "Horn-blowing  was 
a  very  useful  accomplishment  of  our  guide,  as  it  kept  us  straight 
and  frightened  away  the  various  evil  spirits,  from  a  water- 
mama  to  a  wood-demon." 

This  latter  author  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  Orinoco  Indian 
in  the  life  of  nature:  "Above  all  other  localities,  an  Indian  is 
fond  of  an  open,  sandy  beach  whereon  to  pass  the  night.  .  .  . 
There  in  the  open,  away  from  the  dark,  shadowy  forest,  he  feels 
secure  from  the  stealthy  approach  of  the  dreaded  'kanaima'; 
.  .  .  the  magic  rattle  of  the  'peaiman'  .  .  .  has  less  terror 
for  him  when  unaccompanied  by  the  rustling  of  the  waving 
branches;  and  there  even  the  wild  hooting  of  the  'didi'  (the 
Midi'  is  supposed  to  be  a  wild  man  of  the  woods,  possessed  of 
immense  strength  and  covered  with  hair)  is  bereft  of  that 
intensity  with  which  it  pierces  the  gloomy  depths  of  the  sur- 
rounding woodland.  It  is  strange  that  the  superstitious  fear 
of  these  Indians,  who  are  bred  and  born  in  the  forest  and  hills, 
should  be  chiefly  based  on  natural  forms  and  sounds.  Certain 
rocks  they  will  never  point  at  with  a  finger,  although  your  at- 
tention may  be  drawn  to  them  by  an  inclination  of  the  head. 
Some  rocks  they  will  not  even  look  at,  and  others  again  they 
beat  with  green  boughs.  Common  bird-cries  become  spirit- 
voices.  Any  place  of  difficult  access,  or  little  known,  is  in- 
variably tenanted  by  huge  snakes  or  horrible  four-footed 
animals.  Otters  are  transformed  into  mermaids,  and  water- 
tigers  inhabit  the  deep  pools  and  caves  of  their  rivers." 

This  is  the  familiar  picture  of  the  animist,  surrounded  by 
monster-haunted  marches,  for  which,  in  the  works  of  many 
writers,  the  Guiana  aborigines  have  afforded  the  repeated 
model.  No  description  of  the  beliefs  of  these  natives  would  be 
complete  without  mention  of  the  superstitions  and  adorations 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  277 

associated  with  Mt.  Roraima,  by  which  all  travellers  seem  to  be 
impressed.  Schomburgk  17  says  that  the  native  loves  Roraima 
as  the  Swiss  loves  his  Alps:  "All  their  festal  songs  have  Roraima 
for  object.  .  .  .  Each  morning  and  each  evening  came  old 
and  young  ...  to  greet  us  with  bakong  baimong  ('good  day') 
or  saponteng  ('good  night')  .  .  .  adding  each  time  the  words, 
matti  Roraima-tau,  Roraima-tau  ('there,  see  our  Roraima!'), 
with  the  word  tau  very  slowly  and  solemnly  drawled";  and 
one  of  their  songs,  which  might  be  a  fragment  out  of  the  Greek, 
runs: 

"Roraima  of  the  red  rocks,  wrapped  in  clouds,  ever-fertile  source 
of  streams!" 

On  Roraima,  says  im  Thurn,  the  natives  declare  there  are 
huge  white  jaguars,  white  eagles,  and  other  such  creatures; 
and  to  this  class  he  would  add  the  "didis,"  half  man,  half 
monkey,  who  may  very  likely  be  a  mere  personification  of  the 
howling  monkeys  which,  as  Humboldt  states,  the  aborigines 
so  heartily  detest.  Boddam-Whetham,  who  ascended  the  moun- 
tain, tells  of  many  superstitions,  as  of  a  magic  circle  which 
surrounds  it,  and  of  a  demon-guarded  sanctuary  on  the  sum- 
mit: "About  half  way  up  we  met  an  unpleasant-looking  Indian 
who  informed  us  that  he  was  a  great  'peaiman,'  and  the  spirit 
which  he  possessed  ordered  us  not  to  go  to  Roraima.  The 
mountain,  he  said,  was  guarded  by  an  enormous  'camoodi,' 
which  could  entwine  a  hundred  people  in  its  folds.  He  himself 
had  once  approached  its  den  and  seen  demons  running  about 
as  numerous  as  quails.  .  .  .  Our  Indians  were  rejoiced  to  see 
us  back  again,  as  they  had  not  expected  that  the  mountain- 
demons  would  allow  us  to  return." 

Like  great  mountains,  the  orbs  of  heaven  excite  the  native's 
adoration,  though  it  is  by  no  means  necessary,  on  that  account, 
to  follow  certain  theorists  and  to  solarize  or  astralize  all  his 
myths.  Fray  Ruiz  Blanco  states  that  "the  supreme  gods  of 
the  Indians  are  the  sun  and  the  moon,  at  eclipses  of  which  they 


278  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

make  great  demonstrations,  sounding  warlike  instruments  and 
laying  hold  of  weapons  as  a  sign  that  they  seek  to  defend  them; 
they  water  their  maize  in  order  to  placate  them  and  in  loud 
voice  tell  them  that  they  will  amend  their  ways,  labour,  and 
not  be  idle;  and  grasping  their  tools,  they  set  themselves  to 
toil  at  the  hour  of  eclipse."  Of  similar  reference  is  an  observa- 
tion of  Humboldt's:  "Some  Indians  who  were  acquainted  with 
Spanish,  assured  us  that  zis  signified  not  only  the  sun,  but  also 
the  Deity.  This  appeared  to  me  the  more  extraordinary  since 
among  all  other  American  nations  we  find  distinct  words  for 
God  and  the  sun.  The  Carib  does  not  confound  Tamoussicabo, 
'the  Ancient  of  Heaven,'  with  veyou,  'the  sun.":>  In  a  similar 
connexion  he  remarks  that  in  American  idioms  the  moon  is 
often  called  "the  sun  of  night,"  or  "the  sun  of  sleep";  but  that 
"our  missionary  asserted  that  jama,  in  Maco,  indicated  at 
the  same  time  both  the  Supreme  Being  and  the  great  orbs  of 
night  and  day;  while  many  other  American  tongues,  for  in- 
stance Tamanac  and  Caribbee,  have  distinct  words  to  desig- 
nate God,  the  Moon,  and  the  Sun."  It  is,  of  course,  quite 
possible  that  such  terms  as  zis  and  jama  belong  to  the  class 
of  Manito,  Wakan,  Huaca,  and  the  like. 

Humboldt  records  names  for  the  Southern  Cross  and  the 
Belt  of  Orion,  and  Brett  mentions  a  constellation  called  Camudi 
from  its  fancied  resemblance  to  the  snake,  though  he  does  not 
identify  it.  The  Carib,  he  says,  call  the  Milky  Way  by  two 
names,  one  of  which  signifies  "the  path  of  the  tapir,"  while 
the  other  means  "the  path  of  the  bearers  of  white  clay"  —  a 
clay  from  which  they  make  vessels:  "The  nebulous  spots  are 
supposed  to  be  the  track  of  spirits  whose  feet  are  smeared  with 
that  material "  —  a  conceit  which  surely  points  to  the  well- 
nigh  universal  American  idea  of  the  Milky  Way  as  the  path  of 
souls.  The  Carib  also  have  names  for  Venus  and  Jupiter;  and 
the  Macusi,  im  Thurn  says,  regard  the  dew  as  the  spittle  of 
stars. 

In  a  picturesque  passage  Humboldt  describes  the  beliefs 


THE  ORINOCO  AND  GUIANA  279 

connected  with  the  Grotto  of  Caripe,  the  source  of  the  river 
of  the  same  name.  The  cave  is  inhabited  by  nocturnal  birds, 
guacharos  (Steatornis  caripensis) ;  and  the  natives  are  con- 
vinced that  the  souls  of  their  ancestors  sojourn  in  its  deep 
recesses.  "Man,"  they  say,  "should  avoid  places  which  are 
enlightened  neither  by  the  sun  nor  by  the  moon";  and  they 
maintain  that  poisoners  and  magicians  conjure  evil  spirits 
before  the  entrance;  while  "to  join  the  guacharos"  is  a  phrase 
equivalent  to  being  gathered  to  one's  fathers  in  the  tomb. 
Fray  Ruiz  records  an  analogous  tenet:  "They  believe  in  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  and  that  departing  from  the  body, 
it  goes  to  another  place  —  some  souls  to  their  own  lands 
(heredades},  but  the  most  to  a  lake  that  they  call  Machira, 
where  great  serpents  swallow  them  and  carry  them  to  a  land  of 
pleasure  in  which  they  entertain  themselves  with  dancing  and 
feasting."  That  ghosts  of  strong  men  return  is  an  article  of 
common  credence:  the  soul  of  Lope  de  Aguirre,  as  reported 
not  only  by  Humboldt,  but  by  writers  of  our  own  day,18  still 
haunts  the  savannahs  in  the  form  of  a  tongue  of  flame;  and  it 
may  be  supposed  that  the  similar  idea  which  Boddam-Whetham 
records  among  the  negroes  of  Martinique  with  respect  to  the 
soul  of  Pere  Labat  may  be  of  American  Indian  origin.  One 
striking  statement,  which  Brett  quotes  from  a  Mr.  M'Clintock, 
deserves  repetition,  as  being  perhaps  as  clear  a  statement  as  we 
have  of  that  ambiguity  of  life  and  death,  body  and  soul,  from 
which  the  savage  mind  rarely  works  itself  free:  "He  says  that 
the  Kapohn  or  Acawoio  races  (those  who  have  embraced 
Christianity  excepted)  like  to  bury  their  dead  in  a  standing 
posture,  assigning  this  reason,  —  'Although  my  brother  be  in 
appearance  dead,  he  (i.  e.  his  soul)  is  still  alive.'  Therefore,  to 
maintain  by  an  outward  sign  this  belief  in  immortality  some 
of  them  bury  their  dead  erect,  which  they  say  represents  life, 
whereas  lying  down  represents  death.  Others  bury  their  dead 
in  a  sitting  posture,  assigning  the  same  reason."  It  is  unlikely 
that  the  Orinoco  Indians  have  in  mind  such  clear-cut  sym- 


28o  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

holism  of  their  custom  as  this  passage  suggests;  but  it  is  alto- 
gether probable  that  the  true  reason  for  disposing  the  bodies 
of  the  dead  in  life-like  postures  is  man's  fundamental  difficulty 
wholly  to  dissociate  life  from  the  stark  and  unresponsive  body; 
and  doubtless  it  is  this  very  attitude  of  mind  which  leads  them 
also  to  what  Fray  Ruiz  calls  the  error  of  ascribing  souls  to  even 
irrational  beings  —  the  same  underlying  theory  which  makes 
of  primitive  men  animists,  and  of  philosophers  idealists. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   TROPICAL   FORESTS:   THE   AMAZON 
AND    BRAZIL 

I.    THE  AMAZONS1 

ON  his  second  voyage  Columbus  began  to  hear  of  an  island 
inhabited  by  rich  and  warlike  women,  who  permitted 
occasional  visits  from  men,  but  endured  no  permanent  residence 
of  males  among  them.  The  valour  of  Carib  women,  who  fought 
resolutely  along  with  their  husbands  and  brothers  gave  plausi- 
bility to  this  legend;  and  soon  the  myth  of  an  island  or  country 
of  Amazons  became  accepted  truth,  a  dogma  with  wonder- 
tellers  and  a  lure  to  adventurers.  At  first  the  fabulous  island 
seemed  near  at  hand  —  "Matenino  which  lies  next  to  His- 
pafiola  on  the  side  toward  the  Indies";  but  as  island  after  island 
was  visited  and  the  fabled  women  not  found,  their  seat  was 
pushed  further  and  further  on,  till  it  came  to  be  thought  of  as  a 
country  lying  far  in  the  interior  of  the  continent  or  —  for  the 
notion  of  its  insular  nature  persisted  —  as  an  island  somewhere 
in  the  course  of  the  great  river  of  the  Amazons.  By  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  explorers  from  the  north,  from  the 
south,  from  the  east,  from  the  west,  were  all  on  the  lookout  for 
the  kingdom  of  women  and  all  hearing  and  repeating  tales 
about  them  with  such  conviction  that,  as  the  Padre  de  Acufia 
remarks,2  "it  is  not  credible  that  a  lie  could  have  been  spread 
throughout  so  many  languages,  and  so  many  nations,  with  such 
appearance  of  truth." 

In  1540-41  Francisco  de  Orellana  sailed  down  the  Amazon 
to  the  sea,  hearing  tales  of  the  women  warriors,  and,  as  his 
cleric  companion,  Fray  Caspar  Carvajal,  is  credited  with  saying, 


282  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

on  one  occasion  encountering  some  of  them;  for  they  fought 
with  Indians  who  defended  themselves  resolutely  "because 
they  were  tributaries  of  the  Amazons,"  and  he,  and  other 
Spaniards,  saw  ten  or  twelve  Amazons  fighting  in  front  of  the 
Indians,  as  if  they  commanded  them  .  .  .  "very  tall,  robust, 
fair,  with  long  hair  twisted  over  their  heads,  skins  round  their 
loins,  and  bows  and  arrows  in  their  hands,  with  which  they 
killed  seven  or  eight  Spaniards."  The  description,  in  the  cir- 
cumstances described,  does  not  inspire  unlimited  confidence 
in  the  friar's  certainty  of  vision,  but  there  is  nothing  incredi- 
ble even  in  Indian  women  leading  their  husbands  in  combat. 
Pedro  de  Magelhaes  de  Gandavo  gives  a  very  interesting  ac- 
count 3  (still  sixteenth  century)  of  certain  Indian  women  who, 
as  he  says,  take  the  vow  of  chastity,  facing  death  rather  than 
its  violation.  These  women  follow  no  occupation  of  their  sex, 
but  imitate  the  ways  of  men,  as  if  they  had  ceased  to  be  women, 
going  to  war  and  to  the  hunt  along  with  the  men.  Each  of  them, 
he  adds,  is  served  and  followed  by  an  Indian  woman  with  whom 
she  says  she  is  married,  and  they  live  together  like  spouses. 
Parallels  for  this  custom,  (and  for  the  reverse,  in  which  men 
assume  the  costume,  labours,  and  way  of  life  of  women)  are  to 
be  found  far  and  wide  in  America,  —  indeed,  to  the  Arctic 
Zone.  Magelhaes  de  Gandavo  is  authority,  too,  for  the  state- 
ment that  the  coastal  tribes  of  Brazil,  like  the  Carib  of  the 
north,  have  a  dual  speech,  differing  for  the  two  sexes,  at  least 
in  some  words ;  but  this  is  no  extremely  rare  phenomenon. 

More  truly  in  the  mythical  vein  is  the  account  given  in  the 
tale  of  the  adventures  of  Ulrich  Schmidel.  Journeying  north- 
ward from  the  city  of  Asuncion,  in  a  company  under  the  com- 
mand of  Hernando  de  Ribera,  Schmidel  and  his  companions 
heard  tales  of  the  Amazons  —  whose  land  of  gold  and  silver, 
the  Indians  astutely  placed  at  a  two  months'  journey  from  their 
own  land.  "The  Amazons  have  only  one  breast,"  says  Schmidel, 
"and  they  receive  visits  from  men  only  twice  or  thrice  a  year. 
If  a  boy  is  born  to  them,  they  send  him  to  the  father;  if  a  girl, 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  283 

they  raise  her,  burning  the  right  breast  that  it  may  not  grow, 
to  the  end  that  they  may  the  more  readily  draw  the  bow,  for 
they  are  very  valiant  and  make  war  against  their  enemies. 
These  women  dwell  in  an  isle,  which  can  only  be  reached  by 
canoes."  In  the  same  credulous  vein,  but  with  quaintly 
learned  embellishments,  is  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  account:  "I 
had  knowledge  of  all  the  rivers  between  Orenoque  and  Ama- 
zones,  and-  was  very  desirous  to  understand  the  truth  of  those 
warlike  women,  because  of  some  it  is  believed,  of  others  not. 
And  though  I  digress  from  my  purpose,  yet  I  will  set  down 
that  which  hath  been  delivered  me  for  truth  of  those  women, 
and  I  spake  with  a  cacique  or  lord  of  people,  that  told  me  he 
had  been  in  the  river,  and  beyond  it  also.  The  nations  of  these 
women  are  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  in  the  provinces  of 
Topago,  and  their  chiefest  strengths  and  retracts  are  in  the 
islands  situate  on  the  south  side  of  the  entrance  some  sixty 
leagues  within  the  mouth  of  the  said  river.  The  memories  of 
the  like  women  are  very  ancient  as  well  in  Africa  as  in  Asia:  In 
Africa  these  had  Medusa  for  queen:  others  in  Scithia  near  the 
rivers  of  Tanais  and  Thernodon:  we  find  also  that  Lampedo 
and  Marethesia  were  queens  of  the  Amazons :  in  many  histories 
they  are  verified  to  have  been,  and  in  divers  ages  and  provinces : 
but  they  which  are  not  far  from  Guiana  do  accompany  with 
men  but  once  in  a  year,  and  for  the  time  of  one  month,  which 
I  gather  by  their  relation,  to  be  in  April:  and  that  time  all 
kings  of  the  border  assemble,  and  queens  of  the  Amazons;  and 
after  the  queens  have  chosen,  the  rest  cast  lots  for  their  Valen- 
tines. This  one  month  they  feast,  dance,  and  drink  of  their 
wines  in  abundance;  and  the  moon  being  done,  they  all  depart 
to  their  own  provinces.  If  they  conceive,  and  be  delivered  of  a 
son,  they  return  him  to  the  father;  if  of  a  daughter,  they  nourish 
it,  and  retain  it:  and  as  many  as  have  daughters  send  unto  the 
begetters  a  present:  all  being  desirous  to  increase  their  sex 
and  kind:  but  that  they  cut  off  the  right  dug  of  the  breast, 
I  do  not  find  to  be  true.  It  was  farther  told  me,  that  if  in  these 


284  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

wars  they  took  any  prisoners  that  they  used  to  accompany 
with  these  also  at  what  time  soever,  but  in  the  end  for  certain 
they  put  them  to  death :  for  they  are  said  to  be  very  cruel  and 
bloodthirsty,  especially  to  such  as  offer  to  invade  their  ter- 
ritories. These  Amazons  have  likewise  great  store  of  these 
plates  of  gold  which  they  recover  by  exchange  chiefly  for  a 
kind  of  green  stones,  which  the  Spaniards  call  Piedras  hijadas, 
and  we  use  for  spleen  stones :  and  for  the  disease  of  the  stone  we 
also  esteem  them.  Of  these  I  saw  divers  in  Guiana :  and  com- 
monly every  king  or  cacique  hath  one,  which  their  wives  for 
the  most  part  wear;  and  they  esteem  them  as  great  jewels." 

The  Amazon  stone,  or  piedra  de  la  hijada,  came  to  be  im- 
mensely valued  in  Europe  for  wonderful  medicinal  effects,  — 
a  veritable  panacea.  Such  stones  were  found  treasured  by  the 
tribes  of  northern  and  north-central  South  America,  passing 
by  barter  from  people  to  people.  "The  form  given  to  them  most 
frequently,"  wrote  Humboldt,4  "is  that  of  the  Babylonian 
cylinders,  longitudinally  perforated,  and  loaded  with  inscrip- 
tions and  figures.  But  this  is  not  the  work  of  the  Indians  of 
our  day.  .  .  .  The  Amazon  stones,  like  the  perforated  and 
sculptured  emeralds,  found  in  the  Cordilleras  of  New  Grenada 
and  Quito,  are  vestiges  of  anterior  civilization."  Later  writers 
and  investigators  have  identified  the  Amazon  stones  as  green 
jade,  probably  the  chalchihuitl  which  formed  the  esteemed 
jewel  of  the  Aztecs;  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  centre 
from  which  spread  the  veneration  for  greenish  and  bluish  stones 
—  chiefly  jade  and  turquoise  —  was  somewhere  in  Mayan  or 
Nahuatlan  territory.  Certainly  it  was  widespread,  extending 
from  the  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico  to  the  land  of  the  Incas,  and 
eastward  into  Brazil  and  the  Antilles.  That  the  South  American 
tribes  should  have  ascribed  the  origin  of  these  treasures  (at  any 
rate,  when  questioned)  to  the  Amazons,  the  treasure  women, 
is  altogether  plausible.  Nearly  a  century  and  a  half  after 
Raleigh's  day,  de  la  Condamine  found  the  green  jade  stones 
still  employed  by  the  Indians  to  cure  colic  and  epilepsy,  — 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  285 

heirlooms,  they  said,  from  their  fathers  who  had  received  them 
from  the  husbandless  women.  That  the  Indians  themselves  have 
names  for  the  Amazons  is  not  strange  —  names  with  such  mean- 
ings as  the  Women-Living-Alone,  the  Husbandless-Women, 
the  Masterful- Women,  —  for  the  Europeans  have  been  in- 
quiring about  such  women  ever  since  their  coming;  it  is,  how- 
ever, worthy  of  note  that  Orellana,  to  whom  is  credited  the 
first  use  of  "Amazon"  as  a  name  for  the  great  river,  also  heard 
a  native  name  for  the  fabulous  women;  for  Aparia,  a  native 
chief,  after  listening  to  Orellana's  discourse  on  the  law  of  God 
and  the  grandeur  of  the  Castillean  monarch,  asked,  as  it  were 
in  rebuttal,  whether  Orellana  had  seen  the  Amazons,  "whom 
in  his  language  they  call  Coniapuyara,  meaning  Great  Lord." 

Modern  investigators  ascribe  the  myth  of  the  Amazons, 
undeniably  widespread  at  an  early  date,  to  various  causes. 
The  warlike  character  of  many  Indian  women,  already  ob- 
served in  the  first  encounters  with  Carib  tribes  by  Columbus, 
is  still  attested  by  Spruce  (1855):  "I  have  myself  seen  that 
Indian  women  can  fight  .  .  .  the  women  pile  up  heaps  of 
stones  to  serve  as  missiles  for  the  men.  If,  as  sometimes  hap- 
pens, the  men  are  driven  back  to  and  beyond  their  piles  of 
stones,  the  women  defend  the  latter  obstinately,  and  generally 
hold  them  until  the  men  are  able  to  rally  to  the  combat." 
Another  factor  in  the  myth  is  supposed  to  have  been  rumours 
of  the  golden  splendour  of  the  Incaic  empire,  with  perhaps 
vague  tales  of  the  Vestals  of  the  Sun;  and  still  another  is  the 
occurrence  of  anomalous  social  and  sexual  relationships  of 
women,  easily  exaggerated  in  passing  from  tribe  to  tribe. 

A  special  group  of  myths  of  the  latter  type  is  of  pertinent 
interest.  Ramon  Pane  and  Peter  Martyr  give  an  example  in 
the  tale  of  Guagugiana  enticing  the  women  away  to  Matenino. 
A  somewhat  similar  story  is  reported  by  Barboza  Rodriguez 
from  the  Rio  Jamunda:  the  women,  led  away  by  an  elder  or 
chief,  were  accustomed  to  destroy  their  male  children;  but  one 
mother  spared  her  boy,  casting  him  into  the  water  where  he 


286  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

lived  as  a  fish  by  day,  returning  to  visit  her  at  night  in  human 
form;  and  the  other  women,  discovering  this,  seduced  the  youth, 
who  was  finally  disposed  of  by  the  jealous  old  man,  whereupon 
the  angry  women  fled,  leaving  the  chief  womanless.  A  like 
story  is  reported  by  Ehrenreich  from  Amazonas:  The  women 
gather  beside  the  waters,  where  they  make  familiar  with  a 
water-monster,  crocodilean  in  form,  which  is  slain  by  the 
jealous  men;  then,  the  women  rise  in  revolt,  slay  the  men 
through  deceit,  and  fare  away  on  the  stream.  From  Guiana 
Brett  reports  a  myth  on  the  same  theme,  the  lover  being, 
however,  in  jaguar  form.  Very  likely  the  story  of  Maconaura 
and  Anuanai'tu  belongs  to  the  same  cycle;  and  it  is  of  more 
than  passing  interest  to  observe  that  the  story  extends,  along 
with  the  veneration  of  green  and  blue  stones,  to  the  Navaho 
and  Pueblo  tribes  of  North  America,  in  the  cosmogonies  of 
which  appears  the  tale  of  the  revolt  of  the  women,  their  un- 
natural relations  with  a  water-monster,  and  their  eventual 
return  to  the  men.5 

Possibly  the  whole  mythic  cycle  is  associated  with  fertil- 
ity ideas.  Even  in  the  arid  Pueblo  regions  it  is  water  from  be- 
low, welling  up  from  Mother  Earth,  that  appears  in  the  myth, 
and  a  water-dwelling  being  that  is  the  agent  of  seduction. 
In  South  America  and  the  Antilles,  where  fish-food  is  important 
and  where  the  fish  and  the  tortoise  are  recurring  symbols  of 
fertility,  it  is  natural  to  find  the  fabled  women  in  this  associa- 
tion. And  in  this  connexion  it  may  be  well  to  recall  the  dis- 
coveries of  L.  Netto  on  the  island  of  Marajo,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Amazon.6  There  he  found  two  mounds,  a  greater  and  a  smaller, 
in  such  proportion  that  he  regarded  them  as  forming  the  image 
of  a  tortoise.  Within  the  greater,  which  he  regarded  as  the  seat 
of  a  chieftain's  or  chieftainess's  residence,  —  commanding  the 
country  in  every  direction,  —  he  discovered  funeral  urns  and 
other  objects  of  a  quality  far  superior  to  those  known  to  tribes 
of  the  neighbouring  districts,  —  urns,  hominiform  in  character, 
many  of  them  highly  decorated,  and  very  many  of  the  finest 


PLATE  XL 

Vase  from  the  Island  of  Marajo,  with  character- 
istic decoration.  The  funeral  vases  and  other  re- 
mains from  this  region  have  suggested  to  L.  Netto 
that  here  was  the  fabled  Isle  of  the  Amazons  (see 
pages  286-87).  The  vase  pictured  is  in  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History. 


\, 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  287 

holding  the  bones  of  women.  "If  the  tradition  of  a  veritable 
Amazonian  Gyneocraty  has  ever  had  any  raison  d'etre"  said 
Netto,  "certainly  we  see  something  enough  like  it  in  this 
nation  of  women  ceramists,  probably  both  powerful  and  nu- 
merous, and  among  whom  the  women-chiefs  enjoyed  the 
highest  honours  of  the  country." 


II.    FOOD-MAKERS  AND  DANCE-MASKS 

"The  rites  of  these  infidels  are  almost  the  same,"  says  the 
Padre  de  Acuiia.7  "They  worship  idols  which  they  make  with 
their  own  hands;  attributing  power  over  the  waters  to  some, 
and,  therefore,  place  a  fish  in  their  hands  for  distinction;  others 
they  choose  as  lords  of  the  harvests;  and  others  as  gods  of  their 
battles.  They  say  that  these  gods  came  down  from  Heaven 
to  be  their  companions,  and  to  do  them  good.  They  do  not 
use  any  ceremony  in  worshipping  them,  and  often  leave  them 
forgotten  in  a  corner,  until  the  time  when  they  become  neces- 
sary; thus,  when  they  are  going  to  war,  they  carry  an  idol  in 
the  bows  of  their  canoes,  in  which  they  place  their  hopes  of 
victory;  and  when  they  go  out  fishing,  they  take  the  idol 
which  is  charged  with  dominion  over  the  waters;  but  they  do 
not  trust  in  the  one  or  the  other  so  much  as  not  to  recognize 
another  mightier  God." 

This  seventeenth  century  description  is  on  the  whole  true  to 
the  results  obtained  by  later  observers  of  the  rites  and  beliefs  of 
the  Amazonian  Indians.  To  be  sure,  a,  certain  amount  of  inter- 
pretation is  desirable :  the  idolos  of  Acuna  are  hardly  idols  in  the 
classical  sense;  rather  they  are  in  the  nature  of  charms,  fetishes, 
ritual  paraphernalia,  trophies,  —  all  that  goes  under  the  name 
"medicine,"  as  applied  to  Indian  custom.  And  it  is  true,  too, 
that  in  so  vast  a  territory,  and  among  peoples  who,  although 
all  savages,  differ  widely  in  habit  of  life,  there  are  indefinite 
variations  both  in  custom  and  mental  attitude.  Some  tribes 
are  but  hunters,  fishers,  and  root-gatherers ;  others  practice 


288  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY, 

agriculture  also.  Some  are  clothed;  many  are  naked.  Some 
practice  cannibalism;  others  abhor  the  eaters  of  human  flesh. 
Any  student  of  the  miscellaneous  observations  on  the  beliefs 
of  the  South  American  wild  tribes,  noted  down  by  missionaries, 
officials,  naturalists,  adventurers,  professional  ethnologists, 
will  at  first  surely  feel  himself  lost  in  a  chaos  of  contradiction. 
Nevertheless,  granted  a  decent  detachment  and  cool  perspec- 
tive, eventually  he  will  be  led  to  the  opinion  that  these  con- 
tradictions are  not  all  due  to  the  Indian;  the  prepossessions 
and  understandings  of  the  observers  is  no  small  factor;  and 
even  where  the  variation  is  aboriginal,  it  is  likely  to  be  in  the 
local  colour  rather  than  in  the  underlying  fact.  In  this  broad 
sense  Acuna's  free  characterization  hits  the  essential  features 
of  Indian  belief,  in  the  tropical  forests. 

More  than  one  later  writer  is  in  accord  with  the  implicit  em- 
phasis which  the  Padre  de  Acuna  places  upon  the  importance  of 
the  food-giving  animals  and  plants  in  Indian  lore  and  rite.  Of 
these  food  sources  in  many  parts  of  South  America  the  abun- 
dant fish  and  other  fluvial  life  is  primary.  Hugo  Kunike  has, 
indeed,  argued  that  the  fish  is  the  great  symbol  of  fertility 
among  the  wild  forest  tribes,  supporting  the  contention  with 
analysis  of  the  dances  and  songs,  fishing  customs,  ornamenta- 
tion-motives, and  myths  of  these  tribes.8  Certainly  he  has 
shown  that  the  fish  plays  an  outstanding  role  in  the  imaginative 
as  well  as  in  the  economic  life  of  the  Indian,  appearing,  in  one 
group  of  myths,  even  as  a  culture  hero  and  the  giver  of  tobacco. 
Even  more  than  the  fish,  the  turtle  ("the  beef  of  the  Amazon"), 
which  is  a  symbol  of  generation  in  many  parts  of  America,  ap- 
pears in  Amazonian  myth,  where  in  versions  of  the  Hare  and 
the  Tortoise  (here  the  Deer  replaces  the  Hare),  of  the  contest 
of  the  Giant  and  the  Whale  pulling  contrari-wise,  and  in  simi- 
lar fables  the  turtle  appears  as  the  Trickster.  So,  also,  the  frog, 
which  appears  in  magical  and  cosmogonical  roles,  —  as  in  the 
Canopus  myth  narrated  by  Teschauer,  where  a  man  married  a 
frog,  and,  becoming  angered,  cut  off  her  leg  and  cast  it  into 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  289 

the  river,  where  the  leg  became  the  fish  surubim  (Pimelodes 
tigrinus),  while  the  body  rose  to  heaven  to  appear  in  the  con- 
stellation. The  like  tale  is  told  by  other  tribes  with  respect  to 
Serpens  and  to  the  Southern  Cross. 

But  important  as  water-life  is  to  the  Amazonian,  it  would  ap- 
pear from  Pere  Tastevin's  rebuttal  of  Kunike's  contention  that 
the  Indian  does  not  regard  the  fish  with  any  speaking  venera- 
tion. The  truth  would  seem  to  be  that  in  South  America,  as  in 
North,  it  is  the  Elders  of  the  Kinds,  the  ancestral  guardians 
and  perpetuators  of  the  various  species,  both  of  plants  and 
animals,  that  are  appealed  to,  —  dimly  and  magically  by  the 
tribes  lower  in  intelligence,  with  conscious  ritual  by  the  others. 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega's  description  of  the  religions  of  the  more 
primitive  stratum  of  Peruvian  times  and  peoples  applies  equally 
to  the  whole  of  America:  "They  venerated  divers  animals, 
some  for  their  cruelty,  as  the  tiger,  the  lion,  the  bear;  .  .  . 
others  for  their  craft,  as  the  monkeys  and  the  fox;  others  for 
fidelity,  as  the  dog;  for  quickness,  as  the  lynx;  .  .  .  eagles  and 
hawks  for  their  power  to  fly  and  supply  themselves  with  game; 
the  owl  for  its  power  to  see  in  the  dark.  .  .  .  They  adored 
the  earth,  as  giving  them  its  fruits;  the  air,  for  the  breath  of 
life;  the  fire  which  warmed  them  and  enabled  them  to  eat 
properly;  the  llama  which  supplied  troops  of  food  animals;  .  .  . 
the  maize  which  gave  them  bread,  and  the  other  fruits  of  their 
country.  Those  dwelling  on  the  coast  had  many  divinities,  but 
regarded  the  sea  as  the  most  potent  of  all,  calling  it  their 
mother,  because  of  the  fish  which  it  furnished  with  which  they 
nourished  their  lives.  All  these,  in  general,  venerated  the  whale 
because  of  its  hugeness;  but  beside  this,  commonly  in  each 
province  they  devoted  a  particular  cult  to  the  fish  which  they 
took  in  greatest  abundance,  telling  a  pleasant  tale  to  the  effect 
that  the  First  of  all  the  Fish  dwells  in  the  sky,  engendering 
all  of  its  species,  and  taking  care,  each  season,  to  send  them  a 
sufficiency  of  its  kind  for  their  good."  Pere  Tastevin  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  same  belief  today:  "To  be  successful  in  fishing,  it  is 


290  LATIN-AMERICAN   MYTHOLOGY 

not  to  the  fish  that  the  Indian  addresses  himself,  but  to  the 
mother  of  the  animal  he  would  take.  If  he  goes  to  fish  the  turtle, 
he  must  first  strike  the  prow  of  his  canoe  with  the  leaf  of  a  small 
caladium  which  is  called  yurard  taya,  caladium  of  the  turtle;  he 
will  strike  in  the  same  fashion  the  end  of  his  turtle  harpoon  and 
the  point  of  his  arrow,  and  often  he  will  carry  the  plant  in  his 
canoe.  But  let  him  beware  lest  he  take  the  first  turtle!  She  is 
the  grandmother  of  the  others;  she  is  of  a  size  which  confounds 
the  imagination,  and  she  will  drag  down  with  her  the  imprudent 
fisherman  to  the  bottom  of  the  waters,  where  she  will  give  him  a 
fever  without  recovery.  But  if  he  respect  her,  he  will  be  suc- 
cessful in  his  fishing  for  the  rest  of  the  day." 

Universal  among  the  tropical  wild  tribes  is  the  love  of  dancing. 
In  many  of  the  tribes  the  dances  are  mask  dances,  the  masks 
representing  animals  of  all  kinds;  and  the  masks  are  frequently 
regarded  as  sacra,  and  are  tabu  to  the  women.  In  other  cases, 
it  is  just  the  imitative  powers  of  the  child  of  nature  that  are 
called  upon,  and  authorities  agree  that  the  Indian  can  and 
does  imitate  every  kind  of  bird,  beast,  and  fish  with  a  bodily 
and  vocal  verisimilitude  that  gives  to  these  dances,  where 
many  participate,  the  proper  quality  of  a  pandemonium. 
Authorities  disagree  as  to  the  intent  of  the  dancing;  it  is  obvious 
to  all  that  they  are  occasions  of  hilarity  and  fun;  it  is  evident 
again  that  they  lead  to  excitement,  and  especially  when  ac- 
companied by  the  characteristic  potations  of  native  liquors,  to 
warlike,  sexual,  or  imaginative  enthusiasm.  Whether  there  is 
conscious  magic  underlying  them  (as  cannot  be  doubted  in  the 
case  of  the  similar  dances  of  North  America)  is  a  matter  of 
difference  of  opinion,  and  may  well  be  a  matter  of  differing 
fact,  —  the  less  intellectual  tribes  following  blindly  that  in- 
stinct for  rhythm  and  imitation  which,  says  Aristotle,  is  native 
to  all  men,  while  with  the  others  the  dance  has  become  con- 
sciously ritualized.  Cook  says  9  of  the  Bororo  bakororo  —  a 
medley  of  hoots,  squeaks,  snorts,  chirps,  growls,  and  hisses, 
accompanied  with  appropriate  actions,  —  that  it  "is  always 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  291 

sung  on  the  vesper  of  a  hunting  expedition,  and  seems  to  be  in 
honor  of  the  animal  the  savages  intend  to  hunt  the  following 
day.  .  .  .  After  the  singing  of  the  bakororo  that  I  witnessed, 
all  the  savages  went  outside  the  great  hut,  where  they  cleared 
a  space  of  black  ground,  then  formed  animals  in  relief  with 
ashes,  especially  the  figure  of  the  tapir,  which  they  purposed  to 
hunt  the  next  day."  This  looks  like  magic,  —  though,  to  be 
sure,  one  need  not  press  the  similia  similibus  doctrine  too  far: 
human  beings  are  gifted  with  imagination  and  the  power  of 
expressing  it,  and  it  is  perhaps  enough  to  assume  that  imitative 
and  mask  dances,  images  like  to  those  described,  or  like  the 
bark-cut  figures  and  other  animal  signs  described  by  von  den 
Steinen  among  the  Bakairi  and  other  tribes,  are  all  but  the 
natural  exteriorization  of  fantasy,  perhaps  vaguely,  perhaps 
vividly,  coloured  with  anticipations  of  the  fruits  of  the  chase. 

If  anything,  there  seems  to  be  a  clearer  magical  association 
in  rites  and  games  connected  with  plants  than  with  those  that 
mimic  animals.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  manioc,  or  cassava, 
which  is  important  not  only  as  a  food-giving  plant,  but  as  the 
source  of  a  liquor,  and,  again,  is  dangerous  for  its  poison,  — 
which,  as  Teschauer  remarks,  must  have  caused  the  death  of 
many  during  the  long  period  in  which  the  use  of  the  plant  was 
developed.  Pere  Taste vin  describes  men  and  women  gathering 
about  a  trough  filled  with  manioc  roots,  each  with  a  grater, 
and  as  they  grate  rapidly  and  altogether,  a  woman  strikes  up 
the  song:  "A  spider  has  bitten  me!  A  spider  has  bitten  me! 
From  under  the  leaf  of  the  hard  a  spider  has  bitten  me !"  The 
one  opposite  answers:  "A  spider  has  bitten  me!  Bring  the 
cure!  Quick,  make  haste!  A  spider  has  bitten  me!"  And  all 
break  in  with  Yandu  se  suu,  by  which  is  understood  nothing 
more  than  just  the  rhythmic  tom-tom  on  the  grater.  Similar 
is  the  song  of  the  sudarari  —  a  plant  whose  root  resembles 
the  manioc,  which  multiplies  with  wonderful  rapidity,  and 
the  presence  of  which  in  a  manioc  field  is  regarded  as  insuring 
large  manioc  roots:  "Permit,  O  patroness,  that  we  sing  during 


292  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

this  beautiful  night!"  with  the  refrain,  "Sudarari!"  This, 
says  Pere  Tastevin,  is  the  true  symbol  of  the  fertility  of  fields, 
shared  in  a  lesser  way  by  certain  other  roots. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  the  spirit  or  genius  of  the  manioc  fig- 
ures in  myth,  nor  is  it  surprising  to  find  that  the  predominant 
myth  is  based  on  the  motive  of  the  North  American  Mondamin 
story.  WhifTen  remarks,  of  the  north-western  Amazonians:10 
"What  I  cannot  but  consider  the  most  important  of  their 
stories  are  the  many  myths  that  deal  with  the  essential 
and  now  familiar  details  of  everyday  life  in  connexion  with  the 
manihot  utilissima  and  other  fruits";  and  he  goes  on  to  tell  a 
typical  story:  The  Good  Spirit  came  to  earth,  showed  the 
manioc  to  the  Indians,  and  taught  them  to  extract  its  evils; 
but  he  failed  to  teach  them  how  the  plant  might  be  reproduced. 
Long  afterward  a  virgin  of  the  tribe,  wandering  in  the  woods, 
was  seduced  by  a  beautiful  young  hunter,  who  was  none  other 
than  the  manioc  metamorphosed.  A  daughter  born  of  this 
union  led  the  tribe  to  a  fine  plantation  of  manioc,  and  taught 
them  how  to  reproduce  it  from  bits  of  the  stalk.  Since  then  the 
people  have  had  bread.  The  more  elaborate  version  of  Couto 
de  Magalhaes  tells  how  a  chief  who  was  about  to  kill  his  daughter 
when  he  found  her  to  be  with  child,  was  warned  in  a  dream  by 
a  white  man  not  to  do  so,  for  his  daughter  was  truly  innocent 
and  a  virgin.  A  beautiful  white  boy  was  born  to  the  maiden, 
and  received  the  name  Mani ;  but  at  the  end  of  a  year,  with  no 
apparent  sign  of  ailing,  he  died.  A  strange  plant  grew  upon  his 
grave,  whose  fruit  intoxicated  the  birds;  the  Indians  then 
opened  the  grave,  and  in  place  of  the  body  of  Mani  discovered 
the  manioc  root,  which  is  thence  called  Mani-oka,  House  of 
Mani."  Teschauer  gives  another  version  in  which  Mani  lived 
many  years  and  taught  his  people  many  things,  and  at  the  last, 
when  about  to  die  told  them  that  after  his  death  they  should 
find,  when  a  year  had  passed,  the  greatest  treasure  of  all,  the 
bread-yielding  root. 

It  is  probable  that  some  form  of  the  Mani  myth  first  sug- 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  293 

gested  to  pious  missionaries  the  extension  of  the  legendary 
journeys  of  Saint  Thomas  among  the  wild  tribes  of  the  tropics. 
From  Brazil  to  Peru,  says  Granada,11  footprints  and  seats  of 
Santo  Tomds  Apostol,  or  Santo  Tome,  are  shown;  and  he  associ- 
ates these  tales  with  the  dissemination  and  cultivation  of  the 
all-useful  herb,  as  probably  formed  by  a  Christianizing  of  the 
older  culture  myth.  Three  gifts  are  ascribed  to  the  apostle, — 
the  treasure  of  the  faith,  the  cultivation  of  the  manioc,  and  re- 
lief from  epidemics.  "Keep  this  in  your  houses,"  quoth  the 
saint,  "and  the  divine  mercy  will  never  withhold  the  good." 
The  three  gifts  —  a  faith,  a  food,  and  a  medicine,  —  are  the 
almost  universal  donations  of  Indian  culture  heroes,  and  it  is 
small  wonder  if  minds  piously  inclined  have  found  here  a 
meeting-ground  of  religions.  An  interesting  suggestion  made  by 
Sefior  Lafone  Quevado  would  make  Tupan,  Tupa,  Tumpa, — 
the  widespread  Brazilian  name  for  god, — if  not  a  derivative,  at 
least  a  cognate  form  of  Tonapa,  the  culture  hero  of  the  Lake 
Titicaca  region,  who  was  certainly  identified  as  Saint  Thomas 
by  missionaries  and  Christian  Indians  at  a  very  early  date.  That 
the  myth  itself  is  aboriginal  there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt, — 
Bochica  and  Quetzalcoatl  are  northern  forms  of  it;  nor  need 
we  doubt  that  Tupa  or  Tonapa  is  a  native  high  deity  —  in  all 
probability  celestial  or  solar,  as  Lafone  Quevado  believes. 
The  union  of  native  god  and  Christian  apostle  is  but  the  pretty 
marriage  of  Indian  and  missionary  faiths. 

One  of  the  most  poetical  of  Brazilian  vegetation  myths  is 
told  by  Koch-Griinberg  in  connexion  with  the  Yurupari  festi- 
val,—  a  mask  dance  (yurupari  means  just  *  mask"  according 
to  Pere  Taste vin,  although  some  have  given  it  the  signifi- 
cance of  "demon")  celebrated  in  conjunction  with  the  ripening 
of  fruits  of  certain  palms.  Women  and  small  boys  are  excluded 
from  the  fete;  indeed,  it  is  death  for  women  even  to  see  the 
flutes  and  pipes,  —  as  Humboldt  said  was  true  of  the  sacred 
trumpet  of  the  Orinoco  Indians  in  his  day.  The  legend  turns 
on  the  music  of  the  pipes,  and  is  truly  Orphic  in  spirit.  .  .  . 


294  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Many,  many  years  ago  there  came  from  the  great  Water- 
House,  the  home  of  the  Sun,  a  little  boy  who  sang  with  such 
wondrous  charm  that  folk  came  from  far  and  near  to  see  him 
and  harken.  Milomaki,  he  was  called,  the  Son  of  Milo.  But 
when  the  folk  had  heard  him,  and  were  returned  home,  and  ate 
of  fish,  they  fell  down  and  died.  So  their  kinsfolk  seized 
Milomaki,  and  built  a  funeral  pyre,  and  burnt  him,  because  he 
had  brought  death  amongst  them.  But  the  youth  went  to  his 
death  still  with  song  on  his  lips,  and  as  the  flames  licked  about 
his  body,  he  sang:  "Now  I  die,  my  son!  now  I  leave  this 
world!"  And  as  his  body  began  to  break  with  the  heat,  still  he 
sang  in  lordly  tones:  "Now  bursts  my  body!  now  I  am  dead!" 
And  his  body  was  destroyed  by  the  flames,  but  his  soul  as- 
cended to  heaven.  From  the  ashes  on  the  same  day  sprang  a 
long  green  blade,  which  grew  and  grew,  and  even  in  another 
day  had  become  a  high  tree,  the  first  paxiuba  palm.  From  its 
wood  the  people  made  great  flutes,  which  gave  forth  as  won- 
derful melodies  as  Milomaki  had  aforetime  sung;  and  to  this 
day  the  men  blow  upon  them  whenever  the  fruits  are  ripe.  But 
women  and  little  boys  must  not  look  upon  the  flutes,  lest 
they  die.  This  Milomaki,  say  the  Yahuna,  is  the  Tupana  of 
the  Indians,  the  Spirit  Above,  whose  mask  is  the  sky. 

The  region  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Rio  Negro  and  the 
Yapura  —  the  scene  of  Koch-Griinberg's  travels  —  is  the 
centre  of  the  highest  development  of  the  mask  dances,  which 
seem  to  be  recent  enough  with  some  of  the  tribes.  In  the 
legends  of  the  Kabeua  it  is  Kuai,  the  mythic  hero  and  fertility 
spirit  of  the  Arawak  tribes,  who  is  regarded  as  the  introducer 
of  the  mask  dances,  —  Kuai,  who  came  with  his  brethren  from 
their  stone-houses  in  the  hills  to  teach  the  dances  to  his  chil- 
dren, and  who  now  lives  and  dances  in  the  sky-world.  This  is 
a  myth  which  immediately  suggests  the  similar  tales  of  Zuni 
and  the  other  Pueblos,  and  the  analogy  suggested  is  more  than 
borne  out  by  what  Koch-Griinberg  12  tells  of  the  Katcina-like 
character  of  the  masks.  They  all  represent  spirits  or  daemones. 


PLATE  XLI 

Dance  or  ceremonial  masks  of  Brazilian  Indians, 
now  in  the  Peabody  Museum. 


• 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  295 

They  are  used  in  ceremonies  in  honour  of  the  ancestral  dead, 
as  well  as  in  rituals  addressed  to  nature  powers.  Furthermore, 
the  spirit  or  daemon  is  temporarily  embodied  in  the  mask,  — 
"the  mask  is  for  the  Indian  the  daemon";  though,  when  the 
mask  is  destroyed  at  the  end  of  a  ceremonial,  the  Daemon  of 
the  Mask  does  not  perish;  rather  he  becomes  mdskara-anga,  the 
Soul  of  the  Mask;  and,  now  invisible,  though  still  powerful,  he 
flies  away  to  the  Stone-house  of  the  Daemones,  whence  only 
the  art  of  the  magician  may  summon  him.  "All  masks  are 
Daemones,"  said  Koch-Griinberg's  informant,  "and  all  Dae- 
mones are  lords  of  the  mask." 


III.  GODS,  GHOSTS,  AND  BOGEYS 

What  are  the  native  beliefs  of  the  wild  tribes  of  South 
America  about  gods,  and  what  is  their  natural  religion?  If  an 
answer  to  this  question  may  be  fairly  summarized  from  the 
expressions  of  observers,  early  and  recent,  it  is  this:  The  In- 
dians gene  rally  believe  in  good  powers  and  in  evil  powers,  super- 
human in  character.  The  good  powers  are  fewer  and  less  active 
than  the  evil;  at  their  head  is  the  Ancient  of  Heaven.  Little 
attention  is  paid  to  the  Ancient  of  Heaven,  or  to  any  of  the 
good  powers, — they  are  good,  and  do  not  need  attention.  The 
evil  powers  are  numerous  and  busy;  the  wise  man  must  be  ever 
on  the  alert  to  evade  them, — turn  them  when  he  can,  placate 
when  he  must. 

Cardim  is  an  early  witness  as  to  the  beliefs  of  the  Brazilian 
Indians.13  "They  are  greatly  afraid  of  the  Devil,  whom  they 
call  Curupira,  Taguain,  Pigtangua,  Machchera,  Anhanga:  and 
their  fear  of  him  is  so  great,  that  only  with  the  imagination  of 
him  they  die,  as  many  times  already  it  hath  happened."  .  .  . 
"They  have  no  proper  name  to  express  God,  but  they  say  the 
Tupan  is  the  thunder  and  lightning,  and  that  this  is  he  that 
gave  them  the  mattocks  and  the  food,  and  because  they  have 
no  other  name  more  natural  and  proper,  they  call  God  Tupan." 


296  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Thevet  says  that  "Toupan"  is  a  name  for  the  thunder  or  for 
the  Great  Spirit.  Keane  says  of  the  Botocudo,  perhaps  the  low- 
est of  the  Brazilian  tribes:  "The  terms  Yanchang,  Tapan,  etc., 
said  to  mean  God,  stand  merely  for  spirit,  demon,  thunder,  or 
at  the  most  the  thunder-god."  Of  these  same  people  Ehren- 
reich  reports :  "The  conception  of  God  is  wanting;  they  have  no 
word  for  it.  The  word  Tupan,  appearing  in  some  vocabularies, 
is  the  well-known  Tupi-Guaranian  word,  spread  by  missionaries 
far  over  South  America.  The  Botocudo  understand  by  it,  not 
God,  but  the  Christian  priest  himself!"  Neither  have  they  a 
word  for  an  evil  principle;  but  they  have  a  term  for  those  souls 
of  the  departed  which,  wandering  among  men  at  night,  can  do 
them  every  imaginable  ill,  and  "this  raw  animism  is  the  only 
trace  of  religion  —  if  one  can  so  call  it  —  as  yet  observed 
among  them."  Hans  Staden's  account  of  the  religion  of  the 
Tupinambi,  among  whom  he  fell  captive,  drops  the  scale  even 
lower:  their  god,  he  says,  was  a  calabash  rattle,  called  tarn- 
mar  aka,  with  which  they  danced;  each  man  had  his  own,  but 
once  a  year  the  paygis,  or  "prophets,"  pretended  that  a  spirit 
come  from  a  far  country  had  endowed  them  with  the  power  of 
conversing  with  all  Tammarakas,  and  they  would  interpret 
what  these  said.  Women  as  well  as  men  could  become  paygis, 
through  the  usual  Indian  road  to  such  endowment,  the  trance. 
Similar  in  tenor  is  a  recent  account  of  the  religion  of  the 
Bororo.14  The  principal  element  in  it  is  the  fear  of  evil  spirits, 
especially  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  Bope  and  Mareba  are 
the  chief  spirits  recognized.  "The  missionaries  spoke  of  the 
Bororos  believing  in  a  good  spirit  (Mareba)  who  lives  in  the 
fourth  heaven,  and  who  has  a  filha  Mareba  (son),  who  lives  in 
the  first  heaven,  but  it  is  apparent  that  the  priest  merely 
heard  the  somewhat  disfigured  doctrines  that  had  been  learned 
from  some  missionary"  .  .  .  But  why,  asks  the  reader,  should 
this  conception  come  from  the  missionary  rather  than  the 
Bororo  in  South  America,  when  its  North  American  parallel 
comes  from  the  Chippewa  rather  than  from  the  missionary? 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  297 

..."  In  reality  Bope  is  nothing  else  than  the  Digichibi  of  the 
Camacoco,  Nenigo  of  the  Kadioeo  men,  or  Idmibi  of  the 
Kadioeo  women,  the  Ichaumra  or  Ighamba  of  the  Matsi- 
kui,  i.  e.,  the  human  soul,  which  is  regarded  as  a  bad  spirit. 
.  .  .  The  Bororo  often  make  images  of  animals  and  Bope 
out  of  wax.  After  they  have  been  made  they  are  beaten  and 
destroyed." 

Of  the  Camacan,  a  people  of  the  southern  part  of  Bahia,  the 
Abbe  Ignace  says  that  while  they  recognize  a  supreme  being, 
Gueggiahora,  who  dwells,  invisible,  above  the  stars  which  he 
governs,  yet  they  give  him  no  veneration,  reserving  their 
prayers  for  the  crowd  of  spirits  and  bogeys  —  ghosts  of  the 
dead,  thunderers  and  storm-makers,  were-beasts,  and  the 
like,  —  that  inhabit  their  immediate  environment,  forming, 
as  it  were,  earth's  atmosphere.  The  Chorotes,  too,  believe  in 
good  and  in  bad  spirits,  paying  their  respects  to  the  latter; 
while  their  neighbours,  the  Chiriguano,  hold  that  the  soul, 
after  death,  goes  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Great  Spirit,  Tumpa, 
where  for  a  time  he  enjoys  the  pleasures  of  earth  in  a  magnified 
degree;  but  this  state  cannot  last,  and  in  a  series  of  degenera- 
tions the  spirit  returns  to  earth  as  a  fox,  as  a  rat,  as  a  branch 
of  a  tree,  finally  to  fall  into  dissolution  with  the  tree's  decay. 
Tumpa  is,  'according  to  Pierini,  the  same  as  Tupa,  the  benefi- 
cent supreme  spirit  being  known  by  these  names  among  the 
Guarayo,  although  in  their  myths  the  principal  personages  are 
the  hero  brothers,  Abaangui  and  Zaguaguayu,  lords  of  the  east 
and  the  west,  and  two  other  personages,  Mbiracucha  (perhaps 
the  same  as  the  Peruvian  Viracocha)  and  Candir,  the  last  two, 
like  Abaangui,  being  shapers  of  lands  and  fathers  of  men. 

D'Orbigny  15  describes  a  ritual  dance  of  the  Guarayo,  men 
and  women  together,  in  which  hymns  were  addressed  to 
Tamoi,  the  Grandfather  or  Ancient  of  the  Skies,  who  is  called 
upon  to  descend  and  listen.  "These  hymns,"  he  says,  "are  full 
of  naive  figures  and  similitudes.  They  are  accompanied  by 
sounding  reeds,  for  the  reason  that  Tamoi  ascended  toward  the 


298  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

east  from  the  top  of  a  bamboo,  while  spirits  struck  the  earth 
with  its  reeds.  Moreover,  the  bamboo  being  one  of  the  chief 
benefactions  of  Tamoi,  they  consider  it  as  the  intermediary 
between  them  and  the  divinity."  Tamoi  is  besought  in  times  of 
seeding,  that  he  may  send  rain  to  revive  the  thirsting  earth;  his 
temple  is  a  simple  octagonal  hut  in  the  forest.  "I  have  heard 
them  ask  of  nature,  in  a  most  figurative  and  poetic  style,  that  it 
clothe  itself  in  magnificent  vestments ;  of  the  flowers,  that  they 
bloom.;  of  the  birds,  that  they  take  on  their  richest  plumage 
and  resume  their  joyous  song;  of  the  trees,  that  they  bedeck 
themselves  with  verdure;  all  to  the  end  that  these  might  join 
with  them  in  calling  upon  Tamoi,  whom  they  never  implored 
in  vain." 

In  another  connexion  d'Orbigny  says:  "The  Guarani,  from 
the  Rio  de  la  Plata  to  the  Antilles  and  from  the  coasts  of  Brazil 
to  the  Bolivian  Andes,  revere,  without  fearing  him,  a  benefi- 
cent being,  their  first  father,  Tamoi,  or  the  Ancient  of  the 
Skies,  who  once  dwelt  among  them,  taught  them  agriculture, 
and  afterwards  disappeared  toward  the  East,  from  whence  he 
still  protects  them."  Doubtless,  this  is  too  broad  a  generaliza- 
tion, and  d'Orbigny's  own  reports  contain  numerous  references 
to  tribes  who  fear  the  evil  rather  than  adore  the  good  in  nature. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  not  wanting  evidence  looking  in  the 
other  direction.  One  of  the  most  recent  of  observers,  Thomas 
Whiffen,  says  of  the  northwest  Brazilian  tribes:16  "On  the 
whole  their  religion  is  a  theism,  inasmuch  as  their  God  has  a 
vague,  personal,  anthropomorphic  existence.  His  habitat  is 
above  the  skies,  the  blue  dome  of  heaven,  which  they  look 
upon  as  the  roof  of  the  world  that  descends  on  all  sides  in  con- 
tact with  the  earth.  Yet  again  it  is  pantheism,  this  God  being 
represented  in  all  beneficent  nature;  for  every  good  thing  is 
imbued  with  his  spirit,  or  with  individual  spirits  subject  to 
him." 

According  to  Whiffen's  account  the  Boro  Good  Spirit,  Neva 
(in  the  same  tribe  Navena  is  the  representative  of  all  evil), 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  299 

once  came  to  earth,  assuming  human  guise.  The  savannahs 
and  other  natural  open  places,  where  the  sun  shines  freely  and 
the  sky  is  open  above,  are  the  spots  where  he  spoke  to  men. 
But  a  certain  Indian  vexed  Neva,  the  Good  Spirit,  so  that  he 
went  again  to  live  on  the  roof  of  the  world;  but  before  he  went, 
he  whispered  to  the  tigers,  which  up  to  that  time  had  hunted 
with  men  as  with  brothers,  to  kill  the  Indians  and  their 
brethren. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  from  such  a  myth  as  this,  how  thin  is  the 
line  that  separates  good  and  evil  in  the  Indian's  conception,  — 
indeed,  how  hazy  is  his  idea  of  virtue.  Probably  the  main  truth 
is  that  the  Amazonian  and  other  wild  tribes  generally  believe  in 
a  Tupan  or  Tamoi,  who  is  on  the  whole  beneficent,  is  mainly 
remote  and  indifferent  to  mankind,  and  who,  when  he  does 
reveal  himself,  is  most  likely  to  assume  the  form  of  (to  borrow 
Whiffen's  phrase)  "  a  tempestipresent  deity."  "Although  with- 
out temples,  altars  or  idols,"  says  Church,  of  the  tribes  of  the 
Gran  Chaco,  "they  recognize  superior  powers,  one  of  whom  is 
supreme  and  thunders  from  the  sierras  and  sends  the  rain." 
Olympian  Zeus  himself  is  the  Thunderer;  in  Scandinavia  Tiu 
grows  remote,  and  Thor  with  his  levin  is  magnified.  Similarly, 
in  North  America,  the  Thunderbirds  loom  huger  in  men's  ima- 
gination than  does  Father  Sky.  On  the  whole  for  the  South 
American  tribes,  the  judgement  of  Couto  de  Magalhaes  seems 
sane;  that  the  aboriginals  of  Brazil  possessed  no  idea  of  a  single 
and  powerful  God,  at  the  time  of  the  discovery,  and  indeed 
that  their  languages  were  incapable  of  expressing  the  idea;  but 
that  they  did  recognize  a  being  superior  to  the  others,  whose 
name  was  Tupan.  Observers  from  Acuiia  to  Whiffen  have 
noted  individual  sceptics  among  the  Indians;  certain  tribes 
even  (though  the  information  is  most  likely  from  individuals) 
are  said  to  believe  in  no  gods  and  no  spirits;  and  in  some 
tribes  the  beliefs  are  obviously  more  inchoate  than  in  others. 
But  in  the  large,  the  South  Americans  are  at  one  with  all  man- 
kind in  their  belief  in  a  Spirit  of  Good,  whose  abode  is  the 


300  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Above,  and  in  their  further  belief  in  multitudes  of  dangerous 
spirit  neighbours  sharing  with  them  the  Here. 


IV.     IMPS,   WERE-BEASTS,  AND   CANNIBALS 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume  that  all  of  these  dangerous 
neighbours  are  invariably  evil,  just  as  it  is  erroneous  to  expect 
even  the  Ancient  of  the  Skies  to  be  invariably  beneficent.  In 
Cardim's  list  of  the  Brazilian  names  of  the  Devil  he  places  first 
the  Curupira.17  But  Curupira,  or  Korupira  (as  Teschauer 
spells  it),  is  nearer  to  the  god  Pan  than  to  Satan.  Korupira  is  a 
daemon  of  the  woods,  guardian  of  all  wild  things,  mischievous 
and  teasing  even  to  the  point  of  malice  and  harm  at  times,  but 
a  giver  of  much  good  to  those  who  approach  him  properly: 
he  knows  the  forest's  secrets  and  may  be  a  wonderful  helper  to 
the  hunter,  and  he  knows,  too,  the  healing  properties  of  herbs. 
Like  Pan  he  is  not  afoot  like  a  normal  man;  and  some  say  his 
feet  turn  backward,  giving  a  deceptive  trail;  some  say  that 
his  feet  are  double;  some  that  he  has  but  one  rounded  hoof. 
He  is  described  as  a  dwarf,  bald  and  one-eyed,  with  huge  ears, 
hairy  body,  and  blue-green  teeth,  and  he  rides  a  deer  or  a 
rabbit  or  a  pig.  He  insists  that  game  animals  be  killed,  not 
merely  wounded,  and  he  may  be  induced  to  return  lost  cattle,  — 
for  he  is  a  propitiable  sprite,  with  a  fondness  for  tobacco.  A 
tale  which  illustrates  his  character,  both  for  good  and  evil,  is 
of  the  unlucky  hunter,  whom,  in  return  for  a  present  of  tobacco, 
the  Korupira  helps ;  but  the  hunter  must  not  tell  his  wife,  and 
when  she,  suspecting  a  secret,  follows  her  husband,  the  Koru- 
pira kills  her.  In  another  story  the  hunter,  using  the  familiar 
ruse  of  pretended  self-injury  by  means  of  which  Jack  induces 
the  Giant  to  stab  himself  (an  incident  in  which  Coyote  often 
figures  in  North  America),  gets  the  Korupira  to  slay  himself; 
after  a  month  he  goes  back  to  get  the  blue  teeth  of  his  victim, 
but  as  he  strikes  them  the  Korupira  comes  to  life.  He  gives  the 
hunter  a  magic  bow,  warning  him  not  to  use  it  against  birds; 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  301 

the  injunction  is  disobeyed,  the  hunter  is  torn  to  pieces  by  the 
angry  flocks,  but  the  Korupira  replaces  the  lost  flesh  with  wax 
and  brings  the  hunter  to  life.  Again,  he  warns  the  hunter  not 
to  eat  hot  things;  the  latter  disobeys,  and  forthwith  melts 
away. 

Another  "devil"  mentioned  by  Cardim  is  the  Anhanga. 
The  Anhanga  is  formless,  and  lives  indeed  only  in  thought, 
especially  in  dreams;  in  reality,  he  is  the  Incubus,  the  Night- 
mare. The  Anhanga  steals  a  child  from  its  mother's  hammock, 
and  puts  it  on  the  ground  beneath.  The  child  cries,  "Mother! 
Mother!  Beware  the  Anhanga  which  lies  beneath  us!"  The 
mother  strikes,  hitting  the  child;  while  the  laughing  Anhanga 
departs,  calling  back,  "I  have  fooled  you!  I  have  fooled  you!" 
In  another  tale,  which  recalls  to  us  the  tragedy  of  Pentheus  and 
Agave,  a  hunter  meets  a  doe  and  a  fawn  in  the  forest.  He  wounds 
the  fawn,  which  calls  to  its  mother;  the  mother  returns,  and 
the  hunter  slays  her,  only  to  discover  that  it  is  his  own  mother, 
whom  the  wicked  sprite  (here  the  Yurupari)  had  transformed 
into  a  doe. 

But  even  more  to  be  feared  than  the  daemones  are  the  ghosts 
and  beast-embodied  souls.18  Like  most  other  peoples  in  a 
parallel  stage  of  mental  life,  the  South  American  Indians  very 
generally  believe  in  metempsychosis,  souls  of  men  returning  to 
earth  in  animal  and  even  vegetal  forms,  and  quite  consistently 
with  the  malevolent  purpose  of  wreaking  vengeance  upon 
olden  foes.  The  belief  has  many  characteristic  modifications: 
in  some  cases  the  soul  does  not  leave  the  body  until  the  flesh 
is  decayed;  in  many  instances  it  passes  for  a  time  to  a  life  of 
joy  and  dancing,  a  kind  of  temporary  Paradisal  limbo;  but 
always  it  comes  sooner  or  later  back  to  fulfill  its  destiny  as  a 
were-beast.19  The  South  American  tiger,  or  jaguar,  is  naturally 
the  form  in  which  the  reincarnate  foe  is  most  dreaded,  and  no 
mythic  conception  is  wider  spread  in  the  continent  than  is 
that  of  the  were-jaguar,  lying  in  wait  for  his  human  foe,  — 
who,  if  Garcilasso's  account  of  jaguar-worshipping  tribes  is 


302 


LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 


correct,  offered  themselves  unresistingly  when  the  beast  was 
encountered. 

It  is  probable  that  the  conception  of  the  were-jaguar,  or  of 
beast  reincarnations,  is  associated  in  part  at  least  with  the 
enigmatical  question  of  tropical  American  cannibalism.20  A 
recent  traveller,  J.  D.  Haseman,  who  visited  a  region  of  reputed 
cannibalism,  and  found  no  trace  of  the  practice,  is  of  the  opinion 
that  it  has  no  present  existence,  if  indeed  it  ever  had  any.  But 
against  this  view  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  nearly  all  ob- 
servers, with  explicit  descriptions  of  the  custom,  from  Hans 
Staden  and  Cardim  down  to  Koch-Griinberg  and  Whiffen. 
Hans  Staden,  who  was  held  as  a  slave  among  the  Tupinambi 
of  the  Brazilian  coast,  describes  a  visit  which  he  made  to  his 
Indian  master  for  the  purpose  of  begging  that  certain  prisoners 
be  ransomed.  "He  had  before  him  a  great  basket  of  human 
flesh,  and  was  busy  gnawing  a  bone.  He  put  it  to  my  mouth 
and  asked  if  I  did  not  wish  to  eat.  I  said  to  him:  'There  is 
hardly  a  wild  animal  that  will  eat  its  kind;  how  then  shall  I 
eat  human  flesh?'  Then  he,  resuming  his  meal:  'I  am  a  tiger, 
and  I  find  it  good."1  Cardim's  description  of  cannibal  rites 
is  in  many  ways  reminiscent  of  the  Aztec  sacrifice  of  the  de- 
voted youth  to  Tezcatlipoca :  the  victim  is  painted  and  adorned, 
is  given  a  wife,  and  indeed  so  honoured  that  he  does  not  even 
seek  to  escape,  —  "for  they  say  that  it  is  a  wretched  thing  to 
die,  and  lie  stinking,  and  eaten  with  worms ";  throughout,  the 
ritual  element  is  obvious.  On  the  other  hand,  the  conception  of 
degradation  is  clearly  a  strong  factor.  Whiffen  makes  this  the 
foremost  reason  for  the  practice.  The  Indian,  he  says,  has  very 
definite  notions  as  to  the  inferiority  of  the  brute  creation.  To 
resemble  animals  in  any  way  is  regarded  as  degrading;  and  this, 
he  regards  as  the  reason  for  the  widespread  South  American 
custom  of  removing  from  the  body  all  hair  except  from  the 
scalp,  and  again  for  the  disgrace  attendant  upon  the  birth  of 
twins.  But  animals  are  slaughtered  as  food  for  men:  what 
disgrace,  then  to  the  captured  enemy  comparable  with  being 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  303 

used  as  food  by  his  captor?  Undoubtedly,  the  vengeful  nature 
of  anthropophagy  is  a  strong  factor  in  maintaining  the  custom; 
from  Hans  Staden  on,  writers  tell  us  that  while  the  captive 
takes  his  lot  fatalistically  his  last  words  are  a  reminder  to  his 
slayers  that  his  kindred  are  preparing  a  like  end  for  them. 
Probably  the  unique  and  curious  South  American  method  of 
preparing  the  heads  of  slain  enemies  as  trophies,  by  a  process 
of  removing  the  bones,  shrinking,  and  decorating,  is  a  practice 
with  the  same  end  —  the  degradation  of  the  enemy,  —  corre- 
sponding, of  course,  to  the  scalping  and  head-taking  habits  of 
other  American  tribes. 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  with  the  custom  of  anthropophagy 
widespread,  it  should  be  constantly  reflected  in  myth.  A 
curious  and  enlightening  instance  is  in  the  Bakairi  hero-tale 
reported  by  von  den  Steinen:21  A  jaguar  married  a  Bakairi 
maiden;  while  he  was  gone  ahunting,  his  mother,  Mero,  the 
mother  of  all  the  tiger  kind,  killed  the  maiden,  whose  twin  sons 
were  saved  from  her  body  by  a  Caesarian  section.  The  girl's 
body  was  then  served  up  to  the  jaguar  husband,  without  his 
knowledge.  When  he  discovered  the  trick  —  infuriated  at  the 
trick  and  at  having  eaten  his  wife's  flesh,  —  he  was  about  to 
attack  Mero:  "I  am  thy  mother!"  she  cried,  and  he  desisted. 
Here  we  have  the  whole  moral  problem  of  the  house  of  Pelops 
primitively  adumbrated. 

More  in  the  nature  of  the  purely  ogreish  is  the  tale  related 
by  Couto  de  Magalhaes,22  the  tale  of  Ceiuci,  the  Famished  Old 
Woman  (who  he  says,  is  none  other  than  the  Pleiades).  A 
young  man  sat  in  a  tree-rest,  when  Ceiuci  came  to  the  waters 
beneath  to  fish.  She  saw  the  youth's  shadow,  and  cast  in  her 
line.  He  laughed.  She  looked  up.  "Descend,"  she  cried;  and 
when  he  refused,  she  sent  biting  ants  after  him,  compelling 
him  to  drop  into  the  water.  Thence  she  snared  him,  and  went 
home  with  her  game.  While  she  was  gone  for  wood  to  cook  her 
take,  her  daughter  looked  into  the  catch,  and  saw  the  youth, 
at  his  request  concealing  him.  "Show  me  my  game  or  I  will 


304  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

kill  you,"  commanded  the  ogress.  In  company  with  the  youth 
the  maiden  takes  flight  —  the  "magic  flight,"  which  figures 
in  many  myths,  South  American  and  North.  As  they  flee, 
they  drop  palm  branches  which  are  transformed  into  animals, 
and  these  Ceiuci  stops  to  devour.  But  in  time  all  kinds  of 
animals  have  been  formed,  and  the  girl  can  help  the  youth  no 
longer.  "When  you  hear  a  bird  singing  kan  kan,  kan  kan, 
kan  kan"  she  says,  in  leaving  him,  "my  mother  is  not  far." 
He  goes  on  till  he  hears  the  warning.  The  monkeys  hide  him, 
and  Ceiuci  passes.  He  resumes  his  journey,  and  again  hears  the 
warning  chant.  He  begs  the  serpents  to  hide  him;  they  do  so, 
and  the  ogress  passes  once  more.  But  the  serpents  now  plan  to 
devour  the  youth;  he  hears  them  laying  their  plot  and  calls 
upon  the  macauhau,  a  snake-eating  bird,  to  help  him;  and  the 
bird  eats  the  serpents.  Finally,  the  youth  reaches  a  river,  where 
he  is  aided  by  the  herons  to  cross.  From  a  tree  he  beholds  a 
house,  and  going  thither  he  finds  an  old  woman  complaining 
that  her  maniocs  are  being  stolen  by  the  agouti.  The  man 
tells  her  his  story.  He  had  started  out  as  a  youth;  he  is  now  old 
and  white-haired.  The  woman  recognizes  him  as  her  son,  and 
she  takes  him  in  to  live  with  her.  Couto  de  Magalhaes  sees  in 
this  tale  an  image  of  the  journey  of  life  with  its  perils  and  its 
loves ;  the  love  of  man  for  woman  is  the  first  solace  sought,  but 
abiding  rest  is  found  only  in  mother  love.  At  least  the  story 
will  bear  this  interpretation;  nor  will  it  be  alone  as  a  South 
American  tale  in  which  the  moral  meaning  is  conscious. 

V.    SUN,  MOON,  AND   STARS 

When  the  Greeks  began  to  speculate  about  "the  thing  the 
Sophists  call  the  world,"  they  named  it  sometimes  the  Heaven, 
Ouranos,  sometimes  the  Realm  of  Order,  Cosmos;  and  the 
two  terms  seemed  to  them  one  in  meaning,  for  the  first  and 
striking  evidence  of  law  and  order  in  nature  which  man  discov- 
ers is  in  the  regular  and  recurrent  movements  of  the  heavenly 


PLATE  XLII 

Trophy  head  prepared  by  Jivaro  Indians,  Ecuador, 
now  in  the  Peabody  Museum.  In  the  preparation 
of  such  trophies  the  bones  are  carefully  removed, 
the  head  shrunken  and  dried,  and  frequently,  as 
in  this  example,  ornamented  with  brilliant  feathers. 
The  custom  of  preparing  the  heads  of  slain  enemies 
or  of  sacrificial  victims  as  trophies  was  widespread 
in  aboriginal  America,  North  and  South,  the  North 
American  custom  of  scalping  being  probably  a  late 
development  from  this  earlier  practice.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  some  at  least  of  the  masks  which  appear 
upon  mythological  figures  in  Nasca  and  other  repre- 
sentations are  meant  to  betoken  trophy  heads. 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  305 

bodies.  But  it  takes  a  knowledge  of  number  and  a  sense  of 
time  to  be  able  to  truly  discern  this  orderliness  of  the  celestial 
sequences;  and  both  of  these  come  most  naturally  to  peoples 
dwelling  in  zones  wherein  the  celestial  changes  are  reflected  in 
seasonal  variations  of  vegetation  and  animal  life.  In  the  well- 
nigh  seasonless  tropics,  and  among  peoples  gifted  with  no 
powers  of  enumeration  (for  there  are  many  South  American 
tribes  that  cannot  number  the  ten  digits),  it  is  but  natural  to 
expect  that  the  cycles  of  the  heavens  should  seem  as  lawless  as 
does  their  own  instable  environment,  and  the  stars  themselves 
to  be  actuated  by  whims  and  lusts  analogous  to  their  own. 

"  I  wander,  always  wander;  and  when  I  get  where  I  want  to  be, 
I  shall  not  stop,  but  still  go  on.  .  .  ." 

This  Song  of  the  Turtle,  of  the  Paumari  tribes,  says  Steere,23 
reflects  their  own  aimless  life,  wandering  from  flat  to  flat  of  the 
ever-shifting  river;  and  it  might  be  taken,  too,  as  the  image  of 
the  heavenly  motions,  as  these  appear  to  peoples  for  whom 
there  is  no  art  of  counting.  Some  writers,  to  be  sure,  have 
sought  to  asterize  the  greater  portion  of  South  American  myth, 
on  the  general  hypothesis  that  sun-worship  dominates  the  two 
Americas ;  but  this  is  fancy,  with  little  warrant  in  the  evidence. 
Sun,  moon,  and  stars,  darkness  and  day,  all  find  mythic  ex- 
pression; but  there  is  little  trace  among  the  wild  tribes  of  any- 
thing approaching  ritual  devoted  to  these,  or  of  aught  save 
mythopoesy  in  the  thought  of  them. 

The  most  rudimentary  level  is  doubtless  represented  by  the 
Botocudo,  with  whom,  says  Ehrenreich,24  taru  signifies  either  sun 
or  moon,  but  principally  the  shining  vault  of  heaven,  whether 
illuminated  by  either  of  these  bodies  or  by  lightning;  further, 
the  same  word,  in  suitable  phrase,  comes  to  mean  both  wind 
and  weather,  and  even  night.  In  contrast  with  this  we  have 
the  extraordinary  assurance  that  the  highly  intelligent  Passe 
tribe  believes  (presumably  by  their  own  induction)  that  the 
earth  moves  and  the  sun  is  stationary.  The  intermediate,  and 


306  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

perhaps  most  truly  mythic  stage  of  speculation  is  represented 
in  the  Bakairi  tales  told  by  von  den  Steinen,  in  which  the  sun 
is  placed  in  a  pot  in  the  moving  heaven;  every  evening,  Evaki, 
the  wife  of  the  bat  who  is  the  lord  of  darkness,  claps  to  the  lid, 
concealing  the  sun  while  the  heaven  returns  to  its  former  posi- 
tion. Night  and  sleep  are  often  personified  in  South  American 
stories,  —  as  in  the  tale  of  the  stork  who  tried  to  kill. sleep,  — 
and  here  Evaki,  the  mistress  of  night,  is  represented  as  stealing 
sleep  from  the  eyes  of  lizards,  and  dividing  it  among  all  living 
beings. 

A  charming  allegory  of  the  Amazon  and  its  seasons  is  re- 
corded by  Barboza  Rodriguez.  Many  years  ago  the  Moon 
would  become  the  bride  of  the  Sun;  but  when  they  thought  to 
wed,  they  found  that  this  would  destroy  the  earth :  the  burning 
love  of  the  Sun  would  consume  it,  the  tears  of  the  Moon  would 
flood  it;  and  fire  and  water  would  mutually  destroy  each  other, 
the  one  extinguished,  the  other  evaporated.  Hence,  they  sep- 
arated, going  on  either  side.  The  Moon  wept  a  day  and  a  night, 
so  that  her  tears  fell  to  earth  and  flowed  down  to  the  sea.  But 
the  sea  rose  up  against  them,  refusing  to  mingle  the  Moon's 
tears  with  its  waters;  and  hence  it  comes  that  the  tears  still 
flow,  half  a  year  outward,  half  a  year  inward.  Myths  of  the 
Pleiades  are  known  to  the  Indians  throughout  Brazil,  who  re- 
gard the  first  appearance  of  this  constellation  in  the  firmament 
as  the  sign  of  renewing  life,  after  the  dry  season, — "Mother  of 
the  Thirsty"  is  one  interpretation  of  its  name.  One  myth  tells 
of  an  earthly  hunter  who  pierced  the  sky  with  arrows  and 
climbed  to  heaven  in  quest  of  his  beloved.  Being  athirst  he 
asked  water  of  the  Pleiades.  She  gave  it  him,  saying:  "Now 
thou  hast  drunk  water,  thou  shalt  see  whence  I  come  and 
whither  I  go.  One  month  long  I  disappear  and  the  following 
month  I  shine  again  to  the  measure  of  my  appointed  time.  All 
that  beholds  me  is  renewed."  Teschauer  credits  many  Brazil- 
ian Indians  with  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  stars  —  their 
course,  ascension,  the  time  of  their  appearance  and  disappear- 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  307 

ance,  and  the  changes  of  the  year  that  correspond,  but  this 
seems  somewhat  exaggerated  in  view  of  the  limited  amount 
of  the  lore  cited  in  its  support,  —  legends  of  the  Pleiades 
and  Canopus  already  mentioned,  and  in  addition  only  Orion, 
Venus,  and  Sirius.  Of  course  the  Milky  Way  is  observed,  and 
as  in  North  America  it  is  regarded  as  the  pathway  of  souls. 
So,  in  the  odd  Taulipang  legend  given  by  Koch-Griinberg,  the 
Moon,  banished  from  its  house  by  a  magician,  reflects : "  Shall  I 
become  a  tapir,  a  wild-pig,  a  beast  of  the  chase,  a  bird?  All 
these  are  eaten!  I  will  ascend  to  the  sky!  It  is  better  there 
than  here;  I  will  go  there,  from  thence  to  light  my  brothers 
below."  So  with  his  two  daughters  he  ascended  the  skies,  and 
the  first  daughter  he  sent  to  a  heaven  above  the  first  heaven, 
and  the  second  to  a  third  heaven;  but  he  himself  remained  in 
the  first  heaven.  "I  will  remain  here,"  he  said,  "to  shine  upon 
my  brothers  below.  But  ye  shall  illuminate  the  Way  for  the 
people  who  die,  that  the  soul  shall  not  remain  in  darkness!" 

On  an  analogous  theme  but  in  a  vein  that  is  indeed  grim  is 
the  Cherentes  star  legend  reported  by  de  Oliveira.25  The  sun 
is  the  supreme  object  of  worship  in  this  tribe,  while  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  especially  the  Pleiades,  are  his  cult  companions. 
In  the  festival  of  the  dead  there  is  a  high  pole  up  which  the 
souls  of  the  shamans  are  supposed  to  climb  to  hold  intercourse 
with  kinsfolk  who  are  with  the  heavenly  spheres ;  and  it  is  this 
pole  and  the  beliefs  which  attach  to  it  that  is,  doubtless,  the 
subject  of  the  myth.  The  tale  is  of  a  young  man  who,  as  he 
gazed  up  at  the  stars,  was  attracted  by  the  exceptional  beauty 
of  one  of  them:  "What  a  pity  that  I  cannot  shut  you  up  in 
my  gourd  to  admire  you  to  my  heart's  content!"  he  cried;  and 
when  sleep  came,  he  dreamed  of  the  star.  He  awoke  suddenly, 
amazed  to  find  standing  beside  him  a  young  girl  with  shining 
eyes:  "I  am  the  bright  star  you  wished  to  keep  in  your  gourd," 
she  said;  and  at  her  insistence  he  put  her  into  the  gourd,  whence 
he  could  see  her  beautiful  eyes  gazing  upward.  After  this  the 
young  man  had  no  rest,  for  he  was  filled  with  apprehension 


3o8  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

because  of  his  supermundane  guest;  only  at  night  the  star  would 
come  from  her  hiding-place  and  the  young  man  would  feast 
his  eyes  on  her  beauty.  But  one  day  the  star  asked  the  young 
man  to  go  hunting,  and  at  a  palm-tree  she  required  that  he 
climb  and  gather  for  her  a  cluster  of  fruit;  as  he  did  so,  she 
leaped  upon  the  tree  and  struck  it  with  a  wand,  and  immedi- 
ately it  grew  until  it  touched  the  sky,  whereto  she  tied  it  by  its 
thick  leaves  and  they  both  jumped  into  the  sky-world.  The 
youth  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  desolate  field,  and  the 
star,  commanding  him  not  to  stir,  went  in  quest  of  food.  Pres- 
ently he  seemed  to  hear  the  sound  of  festivity,  songs  and  dances, 
but  the  star,  returning,  bade  him  above  all  not  to  go  to  see  the 
dancing.  Nevertheless,  when  she  was  gone  again,  the  youth 
could  not  repress  his  curiosity  and  he  went  toward  the  sound. 
.  .  .  "What  he  saw  was  fearful!  It  was  a  new  sort  of  dance  of 
the  dead!  A  crowd  of  skeletons  whirled  around,  weird  and 
shapeless,  their  putrid  flesh  hanging  from  their  bones  and  their 
eyes  dried  up  in  their  sunken  orbits.  The  air  was  heavy  with 
their  foul  odour."  The  young  man  ran  away  in  horror.  On  his 
way  he  met  the  star  who  blamed  him  for  his  disobedience  and 
made  him  take  a  bath  to  cleanse  him  of  the  pollution.  But  he 
could  no  longer  endure  the  sky-world,  but  ran  to  the  spot  where 
the  leaves  were  tied  to  the  sky  and  jumped  on  to  the  palm-tree, 
which  immediately  began  to  shrink  back  toward  the  earth: 
"You  run  away  in  vain,  you  shall  soon  return,"  the  star  called 
after  him;  and  so  indeed  it  was,  for  he  had  barely  time  to  tell 
his  kindred  of  his  adventure  before  he  died.  And  "thus  it  was 
known  among  the  Indians  that  no  heaven  of  delight  awaits 
them  above,  even  though  the  stars  shine  and  charm  us." 

The  uniting  of  heaven  and  earth  by  a  tree  or  rock  which 
grows  from  the  lower  to  the  upper  world  is  found  in  many  forms, 
and  is  usually  associated  with  cosmogonic  myths  (true  crea- 
tion stories  are  not  common  in  Brazil).  Such  a  story  is  the 
Mundurucu  tale,  reported  by  Teschauer,26  which  begins  with 
a  chaotic  darkness  from  which  came  two  men,  Karusakahiby, 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  309 

and  his  son,  Rairu.  Rairu  stumbled  on  a  bowl-shaped  stone; 
the  father  commanded  him  to  carry  it;  he  put  it  upon  his  head, 
and  immediately  it  began  to  grow.  It  grew  until  it  formed  the 
heavens,  wherein  the  sun  appeared  and  began  to  shine.  Rairu, 
recognizing  his  father  as  the  heaven-maker,  knelt  before  him; 
but  Karu  was  angry  because  the  son  knew  more  than  did  he. 
Rairu  was  compelled  to  hide  in  the  earth.  The  father  found 
him  and  was  about  to  strike  him,  but  Rairu  said:  "Strike  me 
not,  for  in  the  hollow  of  the  earth  I  have  found  people,  who  will 
come  forth  and  labour  for  us."  So  the  First  People  were  allowed 
to  issue  forth,  and  were  separated  into  their  tribes  and  kinds 
according  to  colour  and  beauty.  The  lazy  ones  were  trans- 
formed into  birds,  bats,  pigs,  and  butterflies.  A  somewhat 
similar  Kaduveo  genesis,  narrated  by  Fric,  tells  how  the  various 
tribes  of  men  were  led  from  the  underground  world  and  suc- 
cessively assigned  their  several  possessions ;  last  of  all  came  the 
Kaduveo,  but  there  were  no  more  possessions  to  distribute; 
accordingly  to  them  was  assigned  the  right  to  war  upon  the 
other  Indians  and  to  steal  their  lands,  wives,  and  children. 

The  Mundurucu  genesis  opens:  "In  the  beginning  the  world 
lay  in  darkness."  In  an  opposite  and  indeed  very  unusual  way 
begins  the  cosmogonic  myth  recorded  by  Couto  de  Magalhaes  :27 
"In  the  beginning  there  was  no  night;  the  day  was  unbroken. 
Night  slept  at  the  bottom  of  the  waters.  There  were  no  animals, 
but  all  things  could  speak."  It  is  said,  proceeds  the  tale,  that 
at  this  time  the  daughter  of  the  Great  Serpent  married  a  youth 
who  had  three  faithful  servants.  One  day  he  said  to  these  serv- 
ants: "Begone!  My  wife  desires  no  longer  to  lie  with  me." 
The  servants  departed,  and  the  husband  called  upon  his  wife 
to  lie  with  him.  She  replied:  "It  is  not  yet  night."  He  an- 
swered: "There  is  no  night;  day  is  without  end."  She:  "My 
father  owns  the  night.  If  you  wish  to  lie  with  me,  seek  it  at 
the  river's  source."  So  he  called  his  three  servants,  and  the 
wife  dispatched  them  to  secure  a  nut  of  the  tucuma  (a  palm  of 
bright  orange  colour,  important  to  the  Indians  as  a  food  and 


310  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

industrial  plant).  When  they  reached  the  Great  Serpent  he 
gave  them  the  nut,  tightly  sealed:  "Take  it.  Depart.  But  if 
you  open  it,  you  are  lost."  They  set  out  in  their  canoe,  but 
presently  heard  from  within  the  nut:  "  Ten  ten  ten,  ten  ten  ten." 
It  was  the  noise  of  the  insects  of  the  night.  "What  is  this 
noise?  Let  us  see,"  said  one.  The  leader  answered:  "No;  we 
will  be  lost.  Make  haste."  But  the  noise  continued  and  finally 
all  drew  together  in  the  canoe,  and  with  fire  melted  the  sealing 
of  the  fruit.  The  imprisoned  night  streamed  forth!  The  leader 
cried:  "We  are  lost!  Our  mistress  already  knows  that  we  have 
freed  the  night!"  At  the  same  time  the  mistress,  in  her  house, 
said  to  her  husband:  "They  have  loosed  the  night.  Let  us 
await  the  day."  Then  all  things  in  the  forests  metamorphosed 
themselves  into  animals  and  birds;  all  things  in  the  waters 
became  water-fowl  and  fishes;  and  even  the  fisherman  in  his 
canoe  was  transformed  into  a  duck,  his  head  into  the  duck's 
head,  his  paddle  into  its  web  feet,  his  boat  into  its  body. 
When  the  daughter  of  the  Great  Serpent  saw  Venus  rise,  she 
said:  "The  dawn  is  come.  I  shall  divide  day  from  night." 
Then  she  unravelled  a  thread,  saying:  "Thou  shalt  be  cubuju 
[a  kind  of  pheasant];  thou  shalt  sing  as  dawn  breaks."  She 
whitened  its  head  and  reddened  its  feathers,  saying:  "Thou 
shalt  sing  always  at  dawn  of  day."  Then  she  unravelled  another 
thread,  saying:  "Thou  shalt  be  inambu"  [a  perdrix  that  sings 
at  certain  hours  of  the  night] ;  and  powdering  it  with  cinders : 
"Thou  shalt  sing  at  eve,  at  midnight,  and  at  early  morn." 
From  that  time  forth  the  birds  sang  at  the  time  appropriate  to 
them,  in  day  or  night.  But  when  the  three  servants  returned, 
their  mistress  said  to  them:  "Ye  have  been  unfaithful.  Ye  have 
loosed  the  night.  Ye  have  caused  the  loss  of  all.  For  this  ye 
shall  become  monkeys,  and  swing  among  the  branches  for  all 
time." 


THE  AMAZON  AND   BRAZIL  311 

VI.     FIRE,   FLOOD,  AND  TRANSFORMATIONS 

Purchases  translation  of  Cardim  begins : 28  "  It  seemeth  that 
this  people  had  no  knowledge  of  the  beginning  and  creation  of 
the  world,  but  of  the  deluge  it  seemeth  they  have  some  notice : 
but  as  they  have  no  writings  nor  characters  such  notice  is  ob- 
scure and  confused;  for  they  say  that  the  waters  drowned  all 
men,  and  that  one  only  escaped  upon  a  Janipata  with  a  sister 
of  his  that  was  with  child  and  that  from  these  two  they  have 
their  beginning  and  from  thence  began  their  multiplying  and 
increase." 

This  is  a  fair  characterization  of  the  general  cosmogonical 
ideas  of  the  South  American  wild  tribes.  There  is  seldom  any 
notion  of  creation;  there  is  universally,  it  would  seem,  some 
legend  of  a  cataclysm,  or  series  of  them,  fire  and  flood,  offering 
such  general  analogies  to  the  Noachian  story  as  naturally  to 
suggest  to  men  unacquainted  with  comparative  mythology 
the  inference  that  the  tale  of  Noah  was  indeed  the  source  of  all. 
Following  the  deluge  or  conflagration  there  is  a  series  of  inci- 
dents which  might  be  regarded  as  dispersal  stories,  —  tales  of 
transformations  and  migrations  by  means  of  which  the  tribes 
of  animals  and  men  came  to  assume  their  present  form.  Very 
generally,  too,  the  Transformer-Heroes  are  the  divine  pair, 
sometimes  father  and  son,  but  commonly  twin  brothers,  who 
give  the  animals  their  lasting  forms,  instruct  men  in  the  arts, 
and  after  Herculean  labors  depart,  the  one  to  become  lord  of 
the  east  and  the  day,  the  other  lord  of  the  west  and  the  night, 
the  one  lord  of  life,  the  other  lord  of  death  and  the  ghost- 
world.  It  is  not  unnatural  to  see  in  this  hero  pair  the  sun  and 
the  moon,  as  some  authorities  do,  though  it  would  surely  be  a 
mistake  to  read  into  the  Indian's  thought  the  simple  identifi- 
cation which  such  a  statement  implies:  a  tale  is  first  of  all  a 
tale,  with  the  primitive  man;  and  if  it  have  an  allegorical 
meaning  this  is  rarely  one  which  his  language  can  express  in 
other  terms  than  the  tale  itself. 


312  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

One  of  the  best  known  of  the  South  American  deluge  stories 
is  the  Caingang  legend  29  which  the  native  narrator  had  heard 
"from  the  mother  of  the  mother  of  his  mother,  who  had  heard 
it  in  her  day  from  her  ancient  progenitors."  The  story  is  the 
common  one  of  people  fleeing  before  the  flood  to  a  hill  and  cling- 
ing to  the  branches  of  a  tree  while  they  await  the  subsidence 
of  the  waters,  —  an  incident  of  a  kind  which  may  be  common 
enough  in  flood  seasons,  and  which  might  be  taken  as  a  mere 
reflection  of  ordinary  experience  but  for  the  fact  of  the  series 
of  transformations  which  follow  the  return  to  dry  land;  and 
these  include  not  only  the  formation  of  the  animal  kinds,  but 
the  gift  of  song  from  a  singing  gourd  and  a  curious  process  of 
divination,  taught  by  the  ant-eater,  by  means  of  which  the  sex 
of  children  is  foretold. 

The  flood  is  only  one  incident  in  a  much  more  comprehen- 
sive cycle  of  events,  assembled  variously  by  various  peoples, 
but  having  such  a  family  likeness  that  one  may  without  im- 
propriety regard  the  group  as  the  tropical  American  Genesis. 
Of  this  cycle  the  fullest  versions  are  those  of  the  Yuracare,  as 
reported  by  d'Orbigny,  and  of  the  Bakairi,  as  reported  by  von 
den  Steinen.30 

In  the  Bakairi  tale  the  action  begins  in  the  sky-world.  A  cer- 
tain hunter  encountered  Oka,  the  jaguar,  and  agreed  to  make 
wives  for  Oka  if  the  latter  would  spare  him.  He  made  two 
wives  out  of  wood,  blowing  upon  them.  One  of  these  wives 
swallowed  two  finger-bones,  and  became  with  child.  Mero, 
the  mother  of  Oka  and  of  the  jaguar  kind,  slew  the  woman,  but 
Kuara,  the  brother  of  Oka,  performed  the  Caesarian  operation 
and  saved  the  twins,  who  were  within  her  body.  These  twins 
were  the  heroes,  Keri  and  Kame.  To  avenge  their  mother 
they  started  a  conflagration  which  destroyed  Mero,  them- 
selves hiding  in  a  burrow  in  the  earth.  Kame  came  forth  too 
soon  and  was  burned,  but  Keri  blew  upon  his  ashes  and  restored 
him  to  life.  Keri  in  his  turn  was  burned  and  restored  by  Kame. 
First,  in  their  resurrected  lives  did  these  two  assume  human 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  313 

form.  Now  begins  the  cycle  of  their  labours.  They  stole  the  sun 
and  the  moon  from  the  red  and  the  white  vultures,  and  gave 
order  to  their  way  in  the  heavens,  keeping  them  in  pots,  cover- 
able,  when  the  light  of  these  bodies  should  be  concealed :  sun, 
moon,  and  ruddy  dawn  were  all  regarded  as  made  of  feathers. 
Next,  heaven  and  earth,  which  were  as  yet  close  together,  were 
separated.  Keri  said  to  the  heavens:  "Thou  shalt  not  remain 
here.  My  people  are  dying.  I  wish  not  that  my  people  die." 
The  heavens  answered:  "I  will  remain  here!"  "We  shall  ex- 
change places,"  said  Keri;  whereupon  he  came  to  earth  and  the 
sky  rose  to  where  it  now  is.  The  theft  of  fire  from  the  fox,  who 
kept  it  in  his  eye;  the  stealing  of  water  from  the  Great  Serpent, 
with  the  formation  of  rivers ;  the  swallowing  of  Kame  by  a  water 
monster,  and  his  revivescence  by  Keri;  the  institution  of  the 
arts  of  house-building,  fishery,  dancing;  and  the  separation  of 
human  kinds ;  —  all  these  are  incidents  leading  up  to  the  final 
departure  of  Keri  and  Kami,  who  at  the  last  ascend  a  hill,  and 
go  thence  on  their  separate  ways.  "Whither  are  they  gone? 
Who  knows  ?  Our  ancestors  knew  not  whither  they  went.  To- 
day no  one  knows  where  they  are." 

The  Bakairi  dwell  in  the  central  regions  of  Brazil;  the  Yura- 
care  are  across  the  continent,  near  the  base  of  the  Andes.  From 
them  d'Orbigny  obtained  a  version  of  the  same  cosmogony, 
but  fuller  and  with  more  incidents.  The  world  began  with 
sombre  forests,  inhabited  by  the  Yuracare.  Then  came  Sara- 
ruma  and  burned  the  whole  country.  One  man  only  escaped, 
he  having  constructed  an  underground  refuge.  After  the  con- 
flagration he  was  wandering  sadly  through  the  ruined  world 
when  he  met  Sararuma.  "Although  I  am  the  cause  of  this  ill, 
yet  I  have  pity  on  you,"  said  the  latter,  and  he  gave  him  a 
handful  of  seeds  from  whose  planting  sprang,  as  by  magic,  a 
magnificent  forest.  A  wife  appeared,  as  it  were  ex  nihilo,  and 
bore  sons  and  a  daughter  to  this  man.  One  day  the  maiden 
encountered  a  beautiful  tree  with  purple  flowers,  called  Ule. 
Were  it  but  a  man,  how  she  would  love  it!  And  she  painted 


3i4  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

and  adorned  the  tree  in  her  devotion,  with  sighs  and  hopes,  — 
hopes  that  were  not  in  vain,  for  the  tree  became  a  beautiful 
youth.  Though  at  first  she  had  to  bind  him  to  keep  him  from 
wandering  away,  the  two  became  happy  spouses.  But  one 
day  Ule,  hunting  with  his  brothers,  was  slain  by  a  jaguar.  His 
bride,  in  her  grief  like  Isis,  gathered  together  the  morsels  of  his 
torn  body.  Again,  her  love  was  rewarded  and  Ule  was  restored 
to  life,  but  as  they  journeyed  he  glanced  in  a  pool,  saw  a  dis- 
figured face,  where  a  bit  of  flesh  had  not  been  recovered,  and 
despite  the  bride's  tears  took  his  departure,  telling  her  not  to 
look  behind,  no  matter  what  noise  she  heard.  But  she  was 
startled  into  doing  this,  became  lost,  and  wandered  into  a 
jaguar's  lair.  The  mother  of  the  jaguars  took  pity  upon  her, 
but  her  four  sons  were  for  killing  her.  To  test  her  obedience 
they  commanded  her  to  eat  the  poisonous  ants  that  infested 
their  bodies;  she  deceived  three  of  them  by  substituting  seeds 
for  the  ants,  which  she  cast  to  the  ground;  but  the  fourth  had 
eyes  in  the  back  of  his  head,  detected  the  ruse  and  killed  her. 
From  her  body  was  torn  the  child  which  she  was  carrying,  Tiri, 
who  was  raised  in  secret  by  the  jaguar  mother. 

When  Tiri  was  grown  he  one  day  wounded  a  paca,  which 
said:  "You  live  in  peace  with  the  murderers  of  your  mother, 
but  me,  who  have  done  you  no  harm,  you  wish  to  kill."  Tiri 
demanded  the  meaning  of  this,  and  the  paca  told  him  the  tale. 
Tiri  then  lay  in  wait  for  the  jaguar  brothers,  slaying  the  first 
three  with  arrows,  but  the  jaguar  with  eyes  in  the  back  of  his 
head,  climbed  into  a  tree,  calling  upon  the  trees,  the  sun,  stars, 
and  moon  to  save  him.  The  moon  snatched  him  up,  and  since 
that  time  he  can  be  seen  upon  her  bosom,  while  all  jaguars  love 
the  night.  Tiri,  who  was  the  master  of  all  nature,  taught  culti- 
vation to  his  foster-mother,  who  now  had  no  sons  to  hunt 
for  her.  He  longed  for  a  companion,  and  created  Cam,  to  be  his 
brother,  from  his  own  finger-nail;  and  the  two  lived  in  great 
amity,  performing  many  deeds.  Once,  invited  to  a  feast,  they 
spilled  a  vase  of  liquor  which  flooded  the  whole  earth  and 


THE  AMAZON  AND  BRAZIL  315 

drowned  Caru;  but  when  the  waters  were  subsided,  Tiri  found 
his  brother's  bones  and  revived  him.  The  brothers  then  married 
birds,  by  whom  they  had  children.  The  son  of  Caru  died  and 
was  buried.  Tiri  then  told  Caru  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time 
to  go  seek  his  son,  who  would  be  revived,  but  to  be  careful  not 
to  eat  him.  Caru,  finding  a  manioc  plant  on  the  grave,  ate  of  it. 
Immediately  a  great  noise  was  heard,  and  Tiri  said :  "  Caru  has 
disobeyed  and  eaten  his  son;  in  punishment  he  and  all  men  shall 
be  mortal,  and  subject  to  all  toils  and  all  sufferings." 

In  following  adventures  the  usual  transformations  take  place, 
and  mankind,  in  their  tribes,  are  led  forth  from  a  great  rock, 
Tiri  saying  to  them:  "Ye  must  divide  and  people  all  the  earth, 
and  that  ye  shall  do  so  I  create  discord  and  make  you  enemies 
of  one  another."  Thus  arose  the  hostility  of  tribes.  Tiri  now 
decided  to  depart,  and  he  sent  birds  in  the  several  directions  to 
discover  in  which  the  earth  extends  farthest.  Those  sent  to  the 
east  and  the  north  speedily  returned,  but  the  bird  sent  toward 
the  setting  sun  was  gone  a  long  time,  and  when  at  last  it  re- 
turned it  brought  with  it  beautiful  feathers.  So  Tiri  departed 
into  the  West,  and  disappeared. 


CHAPTER   X 
THE    PAMPAS   TO   THE    LAND   OF   FIRE 

I.    THE   FAR   SOUTH1 

THE  Rio  de  la  Plata  is  the  third  of  the  great  river  systems 
which  drain  the  South  American  continent.  It  combines 
the  waters  of  the  Uruguay,  draining  the  hilly  region  of  southern 
Brazil,  with  those  of  the  Parana,  which  through  its  numerous 
tributaries  taps  the  heart  of  the  south  central  portion  of  the 
continent.  The  Parana  and  its  continuation,  the  Paraguay, 
flowing  almost  due  south  from  the  centre  of  the  continent,  form 
a  kind  of  axis,  dividing  the  hilly  lands  on  the  east  from  the 
great  woodland  plains  known  as  the  Chaco,  stretching  west- 
ward to  the  Andes,  from  whose  age-worn  detritus  they  were 
doubtless  formed.  The  northern  boundary  of  the  Chaco  is  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn;  southward  the 
plains  extend  far  into  Argentina,  narrowing  with  the  encroach- 
ing mountains,  and  finally  giving  way  to  the  grassy  pampas, 
in  the  latitude  of  Buenos  Aires.  These,  in  turn,  extend  south- 
ward to  the  Patagonian  plains  —  geologically  one  of  earth's 
youngest  regions,  —  of  which  the  terminus  is  the  mountain 
region  meeting  the  southern  straits.  Parallel  with  this  stretch 
of  open  country,  which  diminishes  in  width  as  the  southern 
latitudes  are  approached,  is  the  Andean  ridge,  almost  due 
north  and  south  in  sense,  scarcely  varying  the  width  of  the 
western  coastal  region  which  it  marks  off,  but  eastward  extend- 
ing in  heavier  lines  of  ridges  and  broader  plateaus  as  the  centre 
of  the  continent  is  approached.  South  of  latitude  40°  the 
western  coastal  region,  with  the  sinking  of  the  Andean  range, 
merges  in  a  long  archipelago  leading  on  to  Tierra  del  Fuego  and 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE     317 

its  satellite  islands,  beyond  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  —  an  ar- 
chipelago which  is  the  far  southern  counterpart  of  that  reaching 
along  North  America  from  Puget  Sound  to  the  Aleutian  Isles. 

The  aboriginal  peoples  of  the  region  thus  described  fall  into 
a  number  of  groups  of  exceptional  interest  to  the  ethnologist. 
In  the  Chaco.  to  the  north,  are  to  be  found,  to  this  day,  tribes 
practically  untouched  by  the  influence  of  civilization  —  tribes 
in  the  state  which  for  untold  centuries  must  have  been  that 
of  the  peoples  of  central  South  America.  Some  of  them  show 
signs  of  having  been  under  the  influence  of  the  cultured  peoples 
of  the  Andean  regions,  preserving  in  their  fabrics,  for  example, 
figured  designs  strikingly  like  those  of  Incaic  Peru.  It  has  even 
been  suggested  that  the  region  is  in  no  small  part  peopled  by 
descendants  of  Indians  who  in  former  times  fled  from  the  west, 
first  before  the  armies  of  the  Incas,  later  before  the  advance 
of  Spanish  power. 

This  constant  pressure,  which  can  in  a  measure  be  followed  in 
historic  times,  has  had  its  effect  in  pushing  southward  peoples 
whose  origin  must  be  sought  in  the  central  region.  Such  a 
people  are  the  Abipone  —  a  group  of  tribes  which  owe  their 
especial  fame  among  South  American  Indians  perhaps  more 
to  the  fact  that  they  were  so  faithfully  pictured  by  Father 
Dobrizhoffer,  during  the  period  in  which  they  were  gathered  in 
missions,  than  to  their  own  qualities,  striking  as  these  are. 
In  any  case,  the  Abipone,  who  in  the  eighteenth  century  had 
become  an  equestrian  people  of  the  open  country,  had,  ac- 
cording to  their  own  tradition,  moved  southward  out  of  the 
forests,  bearing  with  them  many  of  the  traits  still  to  be  found 
among  the  tribes  of  the  Chaco. 

The  Calchaqui  civilization,  of  the  Andean  region  just  north 
of  latitude  30°  was  one  of  the  latest  conquests  of  the  Inca 
power,  and  represents  its  southerly  extension.  The  actual 
dividing  line,  as  recorded  by  Garcilasso,  was  the  river  Rapel, 
latitude  34°,  where,  according  to  the  historian,  the  Inca  Tupac 
Yupanqui  was  held  in  his  southward  advance  by  the  Arau- 


318  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

canian  (or  Aucanian)  tribes  who  formed  the  population  of 
Chile  and  west  central  Argentina.  The  Araucanians  enjoy  the 
proud  distinction  of  being  to  this  day  an  unconquered  people; 
for  they  held  their  own  in  long  and  bloody  wars  with  the  Span- 
iards, as  before  they  had  held  against  the  aggressive  Incas. 
Further,  in  their  general  culture,  and  in  intellectual  vigor,  they 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  peoples  of  southerly  South  America. 

Scarcely  less  in  romantic  interest  is  the  group  of  peoples  - 
the  Puelche  and  Tehuelche  tribal  stocks  —  forming  the  Pata- 
gonian  race,  whose  tall  stature,  exaggerated  in  the  imagination 
of  early  discoverers,  made  of  them  a  race  of  giants.  Like  the 
Pampean  tribes  they  early  become  horsemen,  expert  with  the 
bolas ;  and  with  no  permanent  villages  and  no  agriculture,  they 
remain  equestrian  nomads  of  the  southern  plains.  The  Ona 
of  Tierra  del  Fuego  represent  a  non-equestrian  as  they  are  also 
a  non-canoe-using  branch  of  the  Patagonian  race.  Altogether 
different  are  the  canoe  peoples  of  the  southern  archipelago, 
the  Alakaluf  and  the  Yahgan.  These  have  shared  with  the 
Australian  Blacks,  with  the  Botocudo,  and  with  one  or  two 
other  groups  of  human  beings,  the  reputation  of  representing 
the  lowest  grade  of  human  intelligence  and  attainment.  They 
were  long  thought  to  be  hopelessly  imbruted,  though  this 
judgement  is  being  somewhat  revised  in  the  face  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  missionary  workers  among  them.  Still  there  are  few 
more  striking  contrasts  in  the  field  of  ethnology  than  is  that 
between  the  culture  of  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific  archipelago 
of  the  northern  America,  with  their  elaborate  society,  art,  and 
mythology,  and  the  mentally  deficient  and  culturally  destitute 
savages  of  the  island  region  of  austral  America. 


II.     EL   CHACO  AND  THE  PAMPEANS 

In  d'Orbigny's  classification  the  Pampean  race  is  divided 
into  three  groups.  Of  these  the  most  northerly  is  the  Moxean, 
comprising  tribes  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Madeira.  Next 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE      319 

southward  is  the  Chiquitean  branch,  with  their  centre  on  the 
divide  between  the  headwaters  of  the  Madeira  and  those  of  the 
southward  flowing  Paraguay  and  Pilcomayo  rivers;  hence 
marking  the  division  of  the  Amazonian  and  La  Plata  systems. 
Still  south  of  these  is  the  main  Pampean  branch,  its  northerly 
reach  being  represented  by  the  Toba,  Lengua,  and  other  Chaco 
stocks;  its  centre  by  the  Mocobi,  Abipone,  and  the  Charrua 
of  Uruguay  (whom  other  authorities  ally  with  the  Brazilian 
stocks) ;  its  southerly  division  comprising  the  Puelche  and  the 
Tehuelche,  or  Patagonians  proper.  So  far  as  the  Pampean 
branch  is  concerned,  this  grouping  corresponds  with  ideas  still 
received. 

D'Orbigny  gives  scant  materials  as  to  the  mythic  beliefs  of 
the  Indians  of  the  Pampean  tribes,  yet  some  are  of  more  than 
ordinary  interest.  Thus,  of  the  Mataguaya,  he  says  2  that  they 
regard  eclipses  as  due  to  a  great  bird,  with  spread  wings,  assail- 
ing the  star  eclipsed,  —  which  is  in  harmony  with  widespread 
South  American  notions;  so,  for  example,  in  the  Chiquitean 
idea,  recorded  by  Father  Fernandez,  the  eclipsed  moon  is 
darkened  by  its  own  blood  drawn  by  savage  dogs.  Still  more 
interesting  is  the  statement,  drawn  from  Guevara's  Historia 
del  Paraguay,  that  the  Mocobi  regard  the  Southern  Cross  as 
the  image  of  a  rhea  pursued  by  dogs.  This  is  the  very  form  in 
which  the  Great  Wain  is  interpreted  in  North  America;  as  far 
as  north  Greenland  it  is  regarded  as  a  bear  or  deer  pursued  by 
dogs  or  by  hunters.  Fragments  of  a  Mocobi  cosmic  myth  are 
also  given:  The  Sun  is  a  man,  the  Moon  is  a  woman.  Once, 
long  ago,  the  Sun  fell  from  the  sky.  The  Mocobi  raised  it  and 
placed  it  again  in  the  sky,  but  it  fell  a  second  time  and  burned 
all  the  forests.  The  Mocobi  saved  themselves  by  changing 
themselves  into  caymans  and  other  amphibians.  A  man  and  a 
woman  climbed  a  tree  to  save  themselves,  a  flame  singed  their 
faces,  and  they  were  changed  into  apes.  .  .  .  This  tale  is 
obviously  related  to  the  hero  cycle  of  which  the  Bakairi  and 
Yuracare  stories  are  versions. 


320  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

But  among  the  Indians  of  this  region  it  is  of  the  Abipone, 
neighbours  of  the  Mocobi,  that  our  knowledge  is  fullest,  owing 
to  the  classical  narrative  of  Martin  Dobrizhoffer  3  who,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  for  eighteen  years  a  Jesuit  missionary 
in  Paraguay.  In  general  Dobrizhoffer's  account  of  the  Abipone 
corresponds  so  closely  with  what  is  now  familiar  knowledge 
of  Indian  ideas  —  animism,  shamanism,  necromancy,  and  in 
their  own  region  belief  in  were-jaguars  and  the  like,  —  that 
it  is  valuable  rather  for  verification  than  interpretation.  In 
the  field  of  religion,  the  Father  is'  interested  in  superstitions 
rather  than  in  myth,  of  which  he  gives  little.  His  comments, 
however,  have  a  quality  of  personality  that  imparts  an  entirely 
dramatic  verve  to  his  narrative  of  the  encounter  of  the  two 
minds  —  Jesuit  and  savage. 

"Haec  est  summa  delicti,  nolle  recognoscere  quern  ignorare  non 
possitj  are  the  words  of  Tertullian,  in  his  Apology  for  the  Chris- 
tians. Theologians  agree  in  denying  that  any  man  in  possession 
of  his  reason  can,  without  a  crime,  remain  ignorant  of  God  for 
any  length  of  time.  This  opinion  I  warmly  defended  in  the 
University  of  Cordoba,  where  I  finished  the  four  years'  course 
of  theology  begun  at  Gratz  in  Styria.  But  what  was  my  as- 
tonishment, when  on  removing  from  thence  to  a  colony  of 
Abipones,  I  found  that  the  whole  language  of  these  savages  does 
not  contain  a  single  word  which  expresses  God  or  a  divinity. 
To  instruct  them  in  religion,  it  was  necessary  to  borrow  the 
Spanish  word  for  God,  and  insert  into  the  catechism  Dios  ecnam 
coagarik,  God  the  creator  of  things."  He  goes  on  to  tell  how, 
camped  in  the  open  with  a  party  of  Indians,  the  serene  sky 
delighting  the  eyes  with  its  twinkling  stars,  he  began  a  conver- 
sation with  the  Cacique  Ychoalay:  "Do  you  behold  the  splen- 
dour of  the  Heaven,  with  its  magnificent  arrangement  of  stars? 
Who  can  suppose  that  all  this  is  produced  by  chance  ?  .  .  .  Who 
can  be  mad  enough  to  imagine  that  all  these  beauties  of  the 
Heavens  are  the  effect  of  chance,  and  that  the  revolutions  and 
vicissitudes  of  the  celestial  bodies  are  regulated  without  the 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE     321 

direction  of  an  omniscient  mind?  Whom  do  you  believe  to  be 
their  creator  and  governor?"  "My  father,"  replied  Ychoalay, 
"our  grandfathers  and  great-grandfathers  were  wont  to  con- 
template the  earth  alone,  solicitous  only  to  see  whether  the 
plain  afforded  grass  and  water  for  their  horses.  They  never 
troubled  themselves  about  what  went  on  in  the  Heavens,  and 
who  was  the  creator  and  governor  of  the  stars." 

Such  incomprehension  of  things  theological  seemed  to  the 
missionaries  to  argue  a  sub-human  nature  in  the  Indians,  and 
Dobrizhoffer,  after  remarking  that  Paul  III  was  obliged  to 
issue  a  bull  in  which  he  pronounced  Indians  to  be  really  men, 
capable  of  understanding  the  Catholic  faith  and  of  receiving  its 
sacraments,  goes  on  himself  to  argue  that  they  are  in  fact  in- 
telligent human  beings  in  spite  of  this  incredible  density.  And 
then  he  continues:  "I  said  that  the  Abipones  were  commend- 
able for  their  wit  and  strength  of  mind;  but  ashamed  of  my 
too  hasty  praise,  I  retract  my  words  and  pronounce  them  fools, 
idiots,  and  madmen.  Lo!  this  is  the  proof  of  their  insanity! 
They  are  unacquainted  with  God,  and  with  the  very  name  of 
God,  yet  they  affectionately  salute  the  evil  spirit,  whom  they 
call  Aharaigichi,  or  Queevet,  with  the  title  of  grandfather, 
Groaperikie.  Him  they  declare  to  be  their  grandfather,  and 
that  of  the  Spaniards,  but  with  this  difference,  that  to  the 
latter  he  gives  gold  and  silver  and  fine  clothes,  but  to  them  he 
transmits  valour."  Here  the  lips  of  the  reader  begin  to  flicker 
with  amusement,  —  it  is  easy  to  see  the  devil  under  the  mask 
of  strange  gods !  Father  DobrizhofFer  continues :  "The  Abipones 
think  the  Pleiades  to  be  the  representation  of  their  grandfather; 
and  as  that  constellation  disappears  at  certain  periods  from  the 
sky  of  South  America,  upon  such  occasions,  they  suppose  that 
their  grandfather  is  sick,  and  are  under  a  yearly  apprehension 
that  he  is  going  to  die:  but  as  soon  as  those  seven  stars  are 
again  visible  in  the  month  of  May,  they  welcome  their  grand- 
father, as  if  returned  and  restored  from  sickness,  with  joyful 
shouts,  and  the  festive  sound  of  pipes  and  trumpets,  congratu- 


322  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

lating  him  on  the  recovery  of  his  health.  '  What  thanks  do  we 
owe  thee!  and  art  thou  returned  at  last?  Ah!  thou  hast  happily 
recovered!'  With  such  exclamations,  expressive  of  their  joy 
and  folly,  do  they  fill  the  air." 

Dobrizhoffer  devotes  a  learned  and  amusing  chapter  to  "Con- 
jectures why  the  Abipones  take  the  Evil  Spirit  for  their  Grand- 
father and  the  Pleiades  for  the  representation  of  him";  in  which, 
finding  no  Scriptural  explanation,  he  concludes  that  the  cult 
came  ultimately  from  Peru  (the  Peruvian's  knowledge  of  God 
did  not  come  along  with  it  because  "vice  is  more  easily  learnt 
than  virtue").  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Pleiades  cult  extends 
throughout  Brazil,  its  seasonal  reappearance  being  the  occasion, 
as  Dobrizhoffer  narrates,  of  a  great  feast  of  intoxication  and 
joy,  a  veritable  Dionysia.  And  it  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that 
the  Abipone,  as  their  own  traditions  indicate,  came  from  the 
north,  probably  from  the  Chaco.  It  is  to  a  contemporary  mis- 
sionary, Barbrooke  Grubb,  who  has  spent  an  even  longer  time 
in  the  Chaco  than  did  the  Jesuit  among  the  Abipone,  that  we 
owe  the  completer  interpretation  of  the  ideas  which  Dobriz- 
hoffer sketched.  The  Chaco  Indians  are  as  near  untouched 
savages  as  any  people  on  the  globe,  so  that  their  beliefs  are 
essentially  uncontaminated. 

The  mythology  of  the  Chaco  tribes,  says  Grubb,4  is  founded 
on  the  idea  of  a  Creator,  symbolized  by  the  beetle.  First,  the 
material  universe  was  made;  then  the  Beetle-Creator  sent 
forth  from  its  hole  in  the  earth  a  race  of  First  Beings,  who  for  a 
time  ruled  all.  Afterward  the  Beetle  formed  a  man  and  a 
woman  from  the  clay  which  it  threw  up  from  its  hole,  the  two 
being  joined  like  the  Siamese  twins.  They  were  persecuted  by 
the  beings  who  preceded  them,  whereupon  the  Beetle  separated 
them  and  endowed  them  with  the  power  of  reproduction, 
whence  the  world  was  peopled  and  came  to  its  present  state. 

Whether  or  no  the  First  Beings,  hostile  to  man,  are  to  be 
identified  with  the  Kilyikhama,  a  class  of  nature  daemones, 
Grubb  does  not  make  clear.  He  does,  however,  describe 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE      323 

numerous  of  these  daemonic  forms,  —  the  white  Kilyikhama, 
heard  whistling  in  his  little  craft  on  the  swampy  waters ;  the  boy 
Kilyikhama  with  lights  on  each  side  of  his  head,  the  thieving 
Kilyikhama;  and  most  dreaded  of  all  the  daemon,  immensely 
tall  and  extremely  thin,  with  eyes  like  balls  of  fire,  whose  ap- 
pearance presages  instant  death.  In  addition  to  these  daemones, 
Aphangak,  ghosts  of  men,  are  intensely  feared,  and  there  are 
ghosts  of  animals,  too,  to  be  dreaded,  —  though,  curiously, 
none  of  fish  or  serpents.  The  Milky  Way  is  supposed  to  be  the 
path  of  the  Kilyikhama,  some  of  whom,  in  the  form  of  large 
white  birds,  are  believed  there  to  await  their  opportunity  to 
descend  into  the  bodies  of  men.  A  very  curious  burial  custom 
is  also  associated  with  the  Galaxy:  when  a  person  is  laid  out 
(sometimes  even  before  the  dying  has  breathed  his  last)  an 
incision  is  made  in  the  side  of  the  body  and  heated  stones  are 
inserted;  these  stones  are  supposed  to  ascend  into  the  Milky 
Way  whence  they  await  their  opportunity  to  fall  upon  the 
person  (wizard  or  other)  who  has  caused  the  death.  "Conse- 
quently the  Indians  are  very  frightened  when  they  see  a  falling 
star."  Whirlwinds  are  believed  to  be  the  passing  of  spirits, 
and  the  whole  realm  of  the  meteorological  is  full  of  portents, — 
the  rainbow,  oddly  enough,  conceived  as  a  serpentine  monster, 
being  a  sign  of  calamity  rather  than  an  arc  of  hope. 

Of  the  Pleiades  Grubb  says  that  they  are  known  by  two 
names — Mounting-in-the-Southand  Holders-Together.  "Their 
rising  is  connected  with  the  beginning  of  spring,  and  feasts 
are  held  at  this  time,  generally  of  a  markedly  immoral 
character."  That  they  call  the  constellation  Aksak,  Grand- 
father, is  not,  in  the  missionary's  opinion,  due  to  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  image  or  embodiment  of  the  devil  (as  Dobrizhoffer 
supposed  of  the  similar  Abiponean  custom).  Aksak  is  rather  a 
term  applied  to  any  person  or  thing  whose  nature  is  not  quite 
understood  or  with  whom  power  and  authority  rest:  "what  is 
most  important  of  all,  they  term  the  creator  beetle  aksak" 
Grubb  concludes:  "In  my  opinion,  the  statement  of  Dobriz- 


324  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

hoffer  that  the  Abipones  looked  upon  themselves  as  descend- 
ants, or,  it  may  be,  the  creation  of  their  'grandfather  the  devil/ 
is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  widespread  tradition  that 
man  was  created  by  the  beetle,  and,  therefore,  their  originator, 
instead  of  being  a  devil,  was  rather  a  creating  god."  Perhaps, 
after  all,  Tertullian  is  right. 

The  missionary  also  speaks  of  "a  remarkable  theory"  held 
by  the  Indians,  that  among  the  stars  there  are  countries  similar 
to  their  own,  with  forests  and  lakes,  which  he  would  explain 
either  as  tales  of  the  mirage  or  as  due  to  "a  childlike  notion  that 
the  sky  is  solid."  The  "childlike  notion"  is,  of  course,  but 
another  instance  of  a  conception  that  prevails  among  the 
native  tribes  of  the  two  Americas,  as  far  as  north  Greenland; 
and  along  with  this  notion  is  that  of  an  underworld  to  which 
ghosts  descend,  which  he  elsewhere  mentions  as  characteristic 
of  the  Chaco,  —  though  his  account  of  their  varying  ideas  as 
to  the  habitations  of  the  dead  shows  well  enough  that  these 
savage  theorists  are  as  uncertain  in  their  location  of  the  abode 
of  shades  as  was  Homer  himself. 


III.    THE  ARAUCANIANS 

The  Araucanian,  or  Auca,  tribes  —  of  which  the  Mapuche, 
Pehuenche,  and  Huiliche  are  the  more  important  divisions, 
while  the  southerly  Chono  and  Chiloe  are  remote  branches  - 
are  the  aborigines  of  the  southern  Andean  region,  inhabiting 
both  slopes  of  the  mountains,  extending  to  the  sea  on  the 
Pacific  side  and  out  into  the  Patagonian  plains  on  the  Atlantic 
side.  Of  all  the  extreme  austral  Indians  they  represent  from 
pre-Columbian  times  the  highest  culture,  though  it  is  evident 
that  the  process  of  acculturation  was  recent  when  the  whites 
first  appeared,  resulting  from  contact  with  Inca  and  Cal- 
chaqui  civilizations.  The  whole  group  of  Araucanians  proper 
was  organized  into  a  confederacy,  with  four  principal  divisions, 
uniting  for  common  defence,  —  an  organization  very  similar 


325 

to  that  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  in  North  America,  and 
equally  effective;  for  the  Araucanians  not  only  put  a  stop  to 
the  southerly  aggressions  of  the  Incas,  but  they  also  successfully 
resisted  the  Spaniards,  establishing  for  themselves  a  unique 
place  in  the  history  of  American  aborigines  in  contact  with  the 
white  race.  In  manner  of  life  the  Araucanians  were  originally 
little  if  any  in  advance  of  their  Patagonian  neighbours;  but  as 
a  result  of  their  contact  with  the  northerly  Andean  peoples, 
their  own  northern  branches  had  acquired,  when  the  Spaniards 
first  came,  a  rudimentary  agriculture,  the  potter's  and  the 
weaver's  arts,  some  skill  with  gold  and  silver,  and  the  habit  of 
domesticating  the  guanaco,  —  and  this  culture  was  gradually 
extending  to  the  south.  As  a  whole,  however,  Araucanian 
culture  represents  a  sharp  descent,  marked  by  the  boundaries 
of  the  Incaic  empire. 

The  romantic  history  of  the  Araucanians,  and  especially 
their  heroic  wars  with  the  Spaniards,  have  naturally  attracted 
to  them  an  unusual  measure  of  historical  and  anthropological 
investigation,  so  the  literature  is  copious.  Molina's  History, 
written  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  is  the  best- 
known  work  in  the  field,  and  is,  in  a  sense,  the  classic  exposition 
of  Araucanian  institutions,  though  both  for  extent  and  ac- 
curacy it  has  been  superseded  by  later  works,  pre-eminently 
those  of  Jose  Medina  and  Tomas  Guevara.5  The  first  volume 
of  the  latter's  great  Historia  de  la  Civilization  de  Araucania  is 
devoted  to  "Antropolojia  Araucana,"  and  in  it  is  given  a 
summary  of  the  native  pantheon. 

First  of  the  gods  is  Pillan,  often  regarded  as  the  Araucanian 
equivalent  of  the  Tupan  of  the  forest  regions  of  Brazil,  god  of 
thunder  and  spirit  of  fire.  "This  conception  represents  a  sur- 
vival of  the  prehistoric  idea  which  considers  fire  as  the  life- 
principle,  carried  to  the  point  of  adoring  it  as  an  invisible  and 
personal  power  .  .  .  forces  of  nature,  such  as  this,  being  per- 
sonified in  the  mind  of  the  barbarian."  Pillan,  however,  while 
a  personal,  is  also  a  collective  power:  caciques  at  their  death 


326  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

and  warriors  who  fall  in  battle  pass  into  the  category  of  Pilli, 
some  being  converted  into  volcanic  forces,  others  ascending  to 
the  clouds.  "From  this  source,"  says  Guevara,  "is  due  the 
belief,  conserved  almost  to  this  time,  that  a  tempest  is  a  battle 
between  their  ancestors  and  their  enemies,  and  the  custom  of 
encouraging  their  own  and  imprecating  the  others  according 
to  the  turn  of  the  battle :  if  the  clouds  move  toward  the  south 
victory  pertains  to  those  of  their  race;  if  to  the  north  —  the 
country  of  the  Spaniards  —  they  suppose  the  latter  to  be 
victorious."  .  .  .  Inevitably  one  recalls  the  bodeful  thunder- 
storm in  Julius  Caesar,  — 

"Fierce  fiery  warriors  fought  upon  the  clouds, 
In  ranks  and  squadrons  and  right  form  of  war, 
Which  drizzled  blood  upon  the  Capitol; 
The  noise  of  battle  hurtled  in  the  air, 
Horses  did  neigh,  and  dying  men  did  groan, 
And  ghosts  did  shriek  and  squeal  about  the  streets." 

Pillan,  as  the  supreme  god  of  a  warlike  people,  was  naturally 
regarded  as  the  god  of  war.  "They  made  his  habitation,"  says 
our  author,  "in  all  those  parts  whence  breaks  the  thunder:  on 
the  crest  of  high  mountains,  in  the  clouds,  and  in  the  volcanoes, 
whose  eruptions  are  so  often  accompanied  by  electrical  phe- 
nomena." The  deity's  name  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  preserved 
in  the  names  of  various  peaks. 

Molina6  states  that  the  word  Pillan  is  derived  from  pilli, 
meaning  "soul,"  and  that  the  god  has  various  attributive  de- 
signations, such  as  Spirit-of-Heaven  (Guenu-pillan),  the  Great 
Being,  the  Thunderer;  and  along  with  these,  suspiciously 
European,  such  epithets  as  the  Creator,  the  Omnipotent,  the 
Eternal.  On  the  whole,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that 
the  true  aboriginal  meaning  of  the  word  is  mysterious 
power"  and  that  the  idea  itself  belongs  with  the  group  of 
conceptions  of  a  semi-pantheistic  nature  power,  of  which 
Wakanda  and  Manito  are  the  best-known  names. 

That  Pillan  stands  at  the  head  of  a  hierarchy  of  nature 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE      327 

powers  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  authorities.  Molina 
believes  that  the  government  of  Pillan  is  modelled  on  that  of 
the  Araucanian  confederacy.  He  is  the  great  chief  of  the  in- 
visible world,  having  under  him  his  high-chiefs  and  under- 
chiefs  to  conduct  cosmic  affairs.  As  with  most  primitive  folk, 
the  great  majority  of  these  lesser  deities  are  considered  as 
malignant,  or  at  least  as  dangerous,  rather  than  as  beneficent 
powers.  The  Huecuvu  (Guecubu,  in  Molina)  are  a  group  of 
daemones  capable  of  assuming  animal  and  human  forms.  The 
Indians  "attribute  natural  phenomena  to  the  implacable 
hatred  of  these  agents  of  Pillan.  They  sow  the  fields  with 
caterpillars,  weaken  animals  with  disease,  quake  the  earth,  and 
devour  the  fish  in  rivers  and  lakes.  The  Huecuvu  corresponds 
with  great  exactness  to  the  idea  of  demon."  Evil  also  is  Epuna- 
mun  (whom  Molina  regarded  as  a  war-god,  apparently  on  the 
strength  of  the  Padre  Olivares's  statement  that  he  presided 
at  councils  of  war,  where  "though  they  have  no  confidence  in 
his  councils,  they  frequently  follow  them,  rather  than  offend 
through  disobedience").  Epunamun  is  represented  as  having 
deformed  legs,  and  he  probably  belongs  to  that  extraordinary 
group  of  South  American  monster-bogeys  having  feet  reversed 
or  knees  that  bend  backward.  The  Cherruve  are  the  spirits 
or  senders  of  shooting-stars  and  comets,  figured  (quite  to  the 
taste  of  the  Mediaeval  European)  as  man-headed  serpents. 
Similar  is  the  Ihuaivilu,  a  seven-headed  fire-monster,  inhabiting 
volcanic  neighbourhoods.  Meulen  appears  to  be  anything 
but  the  benevolent  deity  that  Molina  deemed  it;  he  is  the 
spirit  of  the  whirlwind,  disappearing  in  the  ground  in  the  form 
of  a  lizard  when  the  whirlwind  is  dissipated;  in  modern  folklore 
he  appears  as  El  Destolanado,  devouring  all  children  who  cross 
his  path. 

The  category  of  demonic  beings  is  by  no  means  exhausted 
with  these  wind  and  fire  powers.  The  old  Chilean  mythic  lore 
is  filled  with  composite  and  metamorphosing  beast-bogeys  and 
•witch-beings,  many  of  which  have  been  handed  on  to  the  mod- 


328  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ern  peasantry;  so  that  it  is  now  often  impossible  to  tell  what 
elements  are  native  and  what  communicated.  Many  still  bear 
native  names.  Perimontum  is  a  phantom  appearing  from  the 
other  world  to  announce  some  extraordinary  event.  The  Am  is 
the  ghost  of  a  murdered  man;  the  Alhue  is  a  mischievous  sprite 
whose  sport  is  to  frighten  men.  Colocolo  is  a  small,  invisible 
or  subterranean  animal  or  bird,  whose  cry,  colo  colo!  is  some- 
times heard;  anyone  drinking  its  saliva  will  die.  Neguruvilu,  or 
Guirivilo,  is  a  cat-like  monster  armed  with  a  claw-pointed  tail; 
it  lives  in  the  depths  of  the  waters,  whence  it  sallies  forth  to  kill 
men  and  animals,  assuming  a  serpentine  form  as  it  envelops 
them.  There  are  numerous  other  water-monsters,  some  marine, 
some  amphibians,  their  most  various  forms  being  naturally 
found  among  the  Chiletes  of  the  southern  archipelago.  El 
Caleuche,  the  witch-boat,  is  interesting  for  the  fact  that  here, 
in  the  far  Pacific  south,  it  represents  what  might  almost  be 
called  an  outcropping  of  the  similar  conceptions  found  among 
the  Eskimo  and  the  pelagic  tribes  of  the  North-West  Coast. 
The  witch-boat  is  seen  at  night,  illuminated,  and  it  carries 
fishermen  down  to  the  treasure-houses  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea.  Another  monster  of  this  region  is  Camahueto,  capable  of 
wrecking  large  boats;  while  Cuero,  known  to  the  Araucanians 
as  Trelquehuecuve,  is  a  sort  of  huge  octopus,  whose  arms  end 
in  claws  and  whose  ears  are  covered  with  eyes;  it  has  great  pow- 
ers of  dilation  and  contraction,  and  seizes  and  slays  all  that  fall 
within  its  reach;  when  it  goes  ashore  to  sun  itself  and  wishes 
to  return  to  its  element,  it  raises  a  gale  which  pushes  it  into 
the  water.  Huaillepeii,  or  Guallipen,  is  in  the  form  of  a  calf- 
headed  sheep,  with  deformed  legs;  it  issues  from  streams  and 
pools  on  misty  mornings  and  frightens  pregnant  women,  caus- 
ing their  children  to  be  born  deformed.  The  Imbunche  are 
monsters  into  which  babes  stolen  by  witches  have  been  trans- 
formed; the  Trauco  is  an  old  witch  appearing  in  the  form  of 
a  child  and  having  the  habits  of  an  incubus;  the  Pihuichefi,  or 
Piguchen,  is  a  vampire-like  serpent  that  can  transform  itself 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE     329 

into  a  frog,  a  blood-sucker  and  death-bringer,  while  the  Chon- 
chon,  a  vampire  having  the  form  of  a  human  head  whose  huge 
ears  serve  as  wings  for  its  nocturnal  flights,  is  reminiscent  of 
the  travelling  heads  which  form  so  important  a  group  of  bogeys 
on  the  North  American  continent. 

With  such  an  array  of  demons  surrounding  them,  it  is  small 
marvel  that  for  the  Chilean  peasant  of  today  the  devil  is  not  an 
interesting  person  in  popular  mythology,  as  Senor  Vicuna 
Cifuentes  tells  us,7  playing  a  role  altogether  inferior  to  those 
of  the  local  demons.  Beneficent  powers  are  rare  in  the  Arauca- 
nian  pantheon.  Pillan  may  be  regarded  in  this  light,  as  also 
Ngunemapun,  a  higher  power  recognized  by  the  Araucans  of 
today,  says  Guevara,  although  not  mentioned  in  the  older 
chronicles.  He  seems  to  be  a  doublet  of  Pillan,  and  may  repre- 
sent an  epithet  of  this  god,  or  even  a  still  higher  power  to 
whom  invocations  were  formerly  addressed  which  the  Spaniards 
supposed  to  be  addressed  to  Pillan.  Like  the  latter,  Ngunema- 
pun dwells  on  high  mountains,  has  the  power  of  rendering 
himself  invisible,  and  is  given  the  customary  form  of  a  warrior. 
Beneficent  also  is  Huitranalhue,  friend  of  strangers  and  the 
protector  of  herds  from  thieves. 

A  curious  feature  of  Araucanian  religion  is  the  absence  of  any 
cult  of  the  sun.  Possibly  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  sun 
was  the  great  deity  of  their  enemies,  the  Incas;  so  that  even  if 
it  had  been  adored  in  the  primitive  period,  it  might  have  been 
degraded  after  the  Incaic  defeat  on  the  same  principle  that 
caused  a  Florida  tribe  to  establish  a  cult  of  the  Devil,  because 
he  was  the  enemy  of  the  Spaniard.  The  fact  that  the  Arauca- 
nians  had  measured  the  solar  year,  which  they  divided  into 
twelve  months  of  thirty  days  each,  adding  five  intercalary 
days  or  epagomenae,  argues  a  sun-cult.  Molina  tells  us  that 
they  began  their  year  immediately  after  the  December  solstice, 
which  they  called  the  Head-and-Tail-of-the-Year,  while  the 
June  solstice  was  called  the  Divider-of-the-Year.  Dobrizhoffer 
says  that  the  Picunche,  or  Moluche  (Araucanians),  like  the 


330  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Puelche,  had  no  name  for  God.8  "These  ascribe  all  the  good 
things  they  either  possess  or  desire  to  the  sun,  and  to  the  sun 
they  pray  for  them";  and  one  of  their  priests,  he  says,  when  told 
of  God,  said:  "Till  this  hour  we  never  knew  nor  acknowledged 
anything  greater  or  better  than  the  sun."  This  certainly 
points  to  the  probability  that  in  primitive  times  the  sun  was  an 
Araucanian  god,  though  it  appears  that  the  moon  has  assumed 
the  place  of  celestial  importance  in  the  later  pantheon.  Her 
ancient  name,  Anchimalguen,  signifies,  says  Guevara,  Woman 
(i.  e.,  wife)-of-the-Sun;  Anchimallen  is  the  contemporary  form. 
She  is  implored  in  adversity  and  praised  in  prosperity,  say  the 
chroniclers.  Sometimes  Anchimallen  is  of  ill  omen,  appearing 
at  night  in  the  form  of  a  stray  guanaco  and  luring  travellers 
to  vain  pursuit;  but  she  also  serves  to  give  warning  of  enemies 
and  to  frighten  away  evil  spirits.  Molina  gives  a  very  interest- 
ing suggestion,  namely,  that  all  the  female  powers  of  the  in- 
visible world  form  a  class  of  beneficent  nymphs  called  Amchi- 
malghen.  "There  is  not  an  Araucanian  but  imagines  he  has 
one  of  these  in  his  service.  Nien  cai  gni  Amchi-malghen,  'I 
keep  my  nymph  still,'  is  a  common  expression  when  they  suc- 
ceed in  any  undertaking." 

The  mythic  tales  of  the  Araucanians  are  (judging  from  some- 
what meagre  materials)  of  a  class  with  those  prevalent  in 
neighbouring  regions,  —  a  cosmogony  in  which  volcanic  forces 
destroy  the  world  by  fire,  while  a  deluge  causes  all  to  perish 
save  a  few  who  flee  to  the  three-peaked  mountain  Thegtheg, 
the  Mount  of  Levin,  which  moves  upon  the  waters;  a  hero 
cycle  in  which  two  brothers,  Konkel  and  Pediu,  figure  as  trans- 
formers; and  there  are  stories  of  a  Sky- World  above,  and  of 
seaward  Islands  of  the  Dead.9  One  of  the  most  interesting 
elements  of  their  mythology  is  their  version  of  the  oft-recurring 
conception  of  a  Way  Perilous  to  the  abode  of  the  departed.  An 
old  woman,  in  the  form  of  a  whale,  bears  the  soul  out  to  sea; 
but  before  his  arrival  in  the  Araucanian  Hades  he  is  obliged 
to  pay  toll  for  passing  a  narrow  strait,  where  sits  another 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE      331 

malignant  hag  who  exacts  an  eye  from  any  poor  wretch  who 
has  nothing  better  to  pay. 


IV.     THE   PATAGONIANS 

Few  peoples  have  had  fame  thrust  upon  them  with  so  little 
reason  as  have  the  Patagonian  Indians,  and  few  myths  have 
been  more  widely  credited  than  that  Patagonia  was  the  home 
of  a  race  of  giants.  The  Tehuelche  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  men 
of  large  size,  probably  averaging  above  six  feet;  and  they  are 
noted  for  the  large  development,  especially  of  the  upper  parts 
of  their  body.  Keane  states  that  they  are  second  in  size  among 
South  American  peoples,  being  exceeded  by  the  Bororo.  Possi- 
bly it  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  first  navigators  of  this  region 
were  men  of  south  Europe,  themselves  short,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  myth  of  Patagonian  giants.  Pigafetta,10  the  chief  chroni- 
cler of  Magellan's  voyage,  says  of  one  of  these  "giants"  that 
he  was  "so  tall  that  our  heads  scarcely  came  up  to  his  waist," 
and  the  anonymous  "Genoese  pilot"  who  has  left  an  account  of 
the  same  navigation  reports  that  where  they  wintered,  in  1520, 
"there  were  people  like  savages,  and  the  men  are  from  nine  to 
ten  spans  in  height,  very  well  made."  It  is,  indeed,  possible 
that  the  stature  of  the  modern  Tehuelche  is  modified  slightly 
from  that  of  the  Patagon,  or  "Big-Foot"  ("the  captain  named 
this  kind  of  people  Pataghom,"  wrote  Pigafetta) ;  for  since  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Tehuelche  have  been  an 
equestrian  people,  living  on  horseback,  one  might  say;  and  a 
recent  observer  says  of  them  that  "the  lower  limbs  are  some- 
times disappointing,  being,  in  fact,  the  lower  limbs  of  a  race  of 
riders."  Such  an  influence  may  well  have  produced  a  small 
diminution  of  the  average  stature  over  that  at  the  time  of  the 
first  observations. 

In  no  other  respect  is  the  Patagonian  remarkable.  The  race 
is  divided  into  two  great  divisions,  the  northerly  Puelche  and 
the  Tehuelche,  of  Patagonia  proper,  now  both  equestrian 


332  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

peoples.  Across  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  in  eastern  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  dwell  the  Ona,  still  a  pedestrian  branch  of  the  Pata- 
gonian  race. 

The  Patagonians  are  a  sluggish  and  peaceable  people,  quite 
self-sufficient  when  left  to  themselves,  and  in  the  south  little 
influenced  by  the  arts  of  civilization.  Except  for  the  changes 
which  the  introduction  of  horses  has  brought  into  their  life, 
the  description  of  the  Genoese  pilot  is  essentially  true  to  this 
day: 10  "They  have  not  got  houses;  they  only  go  about  from 
one  place  to  another  .  .  .  and  eat  meat  nearly  raw:  they  are 
all  archers  and  kill  many  animals  with  arrows,  and  with  the 
skins  they  make  clothes.  .  .  .  Wherever  night  finds  them, 
there  they  sleep;  they  carry  their  wives  along  with  them  with 
all  the  chattels  they  possess." 

Accounts  of  Patagonian  religion  are  all  meagre;  perhaps  be- 
cause the  ideational  content  of  their  belief  is  itself  meagre, 
for  authorities  agree  that  they  are  slow  and  unimaginative. 
The  little  information  given  by  Pigafetta,  chronicler  of  Magel- 
lan's voyage,  has,  to  be  sure,  a  moving  background.  Two  of 
the  "giants,"  he  says,  were  lured  on  shipboard,  and  there, 
while  being  entertained  with  gauds,  were  clamped  with  irons, 
the  intention  being  to  take  them  for  a  show  to  the  Castilian 
king.  "When  they  saw  the  trick  which  had  been  played  them, 
they  began  to  be  enraged,  and  to  foam  like  bulls,  crying  out 
very  loud  Setebos,  that  is  to  say,  the  great  devil,  that  he  should 
help  them."  It  is  from  this  passage  that  Shakespeare  derived 
his  conception  of  the  god  of  Caliban.  Pigafetta  adds  that  the 
lesser  devils,  under  Setebos,  are  called  Cheleule.  "This  one 
who  was  in  the  ship  with  us,  told  us  by  signs  that  he  had  seen 
devils  with  two  horns  on  their  heads,  and  long  hair  down  to 
their  feet,  who  threw  out  fire  from  their  mouths  and  rumps,"  — 
but  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  navigators'  imaginations 
were  here  potent  interpreters  of  the  signs.  Dobrizhoffer's 
eighteenth  century  description  of  Patagonian  beliefs  is  essen- 
tially the  same  as  that  of  Prichard  in  the  twentieth  century.11 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE     333 

"They  are  all  acquainted  with  the  devil,  whom  they  call 
Balichu  [Falichu,  Gualichu,  are  variants  found  in  other 
sources].  They  believe  that  there  is  an  innumerable  crowd  of 
demons,  the  chief  of  whom  they  name  El  El,  and  all  the  in- 
ferior ones  Quezubu  [probably  a  form  of  the  Araucanian 
Huecuvu}.  They  think,  however,  every  kind  of  demon  hostile 
and  mischievous  to  the  human  race,  and  the  origin  of  all  evil, 
regarding  them  in  consequence  with  dread  and  abhorrence." 
Dobrizhoffer  goes  on  to  state  that  the  Puelche  and  the  Arau- 
canian Picunche  alike  revere  the  Sun,  indicating  the  affinity 
of  the  beliefs  of  the  two  groups,  which  are  probably  at  least 
remotely  related.  He  continues:  "The  Patagonians  call  God 
Soychu  [Soucha  is  Pennant's  variant],  to-wit,  that  which  can- 
not be  seen,  which  is  worthy  of  all  veneration,  which  does  not 
live  in  the  world;  hence  they  call  the  dead  Soychuhet,  men  that 
dwell  with  God  beyond  the  world.  They  seem  to  hold  two 
principles  in  common  with  the  Gnostics  and  Manichaeans, 
for  they  say  that  God  created  both  good  and  evil  demons. 
The  latter  they  greatly  fear,  but  never  worship.  They  believe 
every  sick  person  to  be  possessed  of  an  evil  demon;  hence  their 
physicians  always  carry  a  drum  with  figures  of  devils  painted 
on  it,  which  they  strike  at  the  beds  of  sick  persons,  to  drive  the 
evil  demon,  which  causes  the  disorder,  from  the  body." 

Prichard's  description  adds  nothing  to  this.12  The  religion  of 
the  Indians  consists  "in  the  old  simple  beliefs  in  good  spirits 
and  devils,  but  chiefly  devils.  .  .  .  The  dominant  Spirit  of 
Evil  is  called  Gualicho.  And  he  abides  as  an  ever-present 
terror  behind  their  strange,  free,  and  superstitious  lives.  They 
spend  no  small  portion  of  their  time  in  either  fleeing  from  his 
wrath  or  in  propitiating  it.  You  may  wake  in  the  dawn  to  see 
a  band  of  Indians  suddenly  rise  and  leap  upon  their  horses, 
and  gallop  away  across  the  pampa,  howling  and  gesticulating. 
They  are  merely  scaring  the  Gualicho  away  from  their  tents 
back  to  his  haunts  in  the  Cordillera  —  the  wild  and  unpene- 
trated  mountains,  where  he  and  his  subordinate  demons  groan 


334  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

in  chosen  spots  the  long  nights  through."  The  Good  Spirit  of 
the  Tehuelche,  says  Prichard,  is  far  more  quiescent.  Long  ago 
he  made  one  effort  to  benefit  mankind,  when  he  created  the 
animals  in  the  caves  of  "God's  Hill"  and  gave  them  to  his 
people  for  food,  but  since  then  he  has  shown  little  interest  in 
earthly  matters.  Of  the  practices  of  the  Tehuelche  shaman  — 
perhaps  an  innovation  since  the  day  of  DobrizhofTer — Prichard 
gives  an  odd  instance,  narrated  by  another  white  observer:  "  In 
the  middle  of  the  level  white  pampa  two  figures  upon  galloping 
horses  were  visible.  As  we  came  nearer  we  saw  that  one  was  a 
man  clothed  in  a  chiripa  and  a  capa  in  which  brown  was  the 
predominating  colour.  He  was  mounted  on  a  heavy-necked 
powerful  cebruno  horse,  his  stirrups  were  of  silver,  and  his  gear 
of  raw-hide  seemed  smart  and  good.  As  he  rode  he  yelled  with 
all  his  strength,  producing  a  series  of  the  most  horrible  and 
piercing  shrieks.  But  strange  as  was  this  wild  figure,  his  com- 
panion, victim  or  quarry,  was  stranger  and  more  striking  still. 
For  on  an  ancient  zaino  sat  perched  a  little  brown  maiden, 
whose  aspect  was  forelorn  and  pathetic  to  the  last  degree.  She 
rode  absolutely  naked  in  the  teeth  of  the  bitter  cold,  her  breast, 
face  and  limbs  blotched  and  smeared  with  the  rash  of  some 
eruptive  disease,  and  her  heavy-lidded  eyes,  strained  and  open, 
staring  ahead  across  the  leagues  of  empty  snow-patched  plain. 
Presently  the  man  redoubled  his  howls,  and  bearing  down  upon 
the  zaino  flogged  and  frightened  it  into  yet  greater  speed.  The 
whole  scene  might  have  been  mistaken  for  some  ancient  bar- 
baric and  revolting  form  of  punishment;  whereas,  in  real  truth, 
it  was  an  anxious  Indian  father  trying,  according  to  his  lights, 
to  cure  his  daughter  of  measles!"  Devils  are  known  to  dislike 
noise  and  cold,  says  Prichard;  hence,  the  unlucky  patient 
without  a  shred  to  protect  her  and  "the  almost  incredible  up- 
roar made  by  the  old  gentleman  upon  the  dark  brown  horse." 
D'Orbigny  says  13  of  the  Tehuelche,  "they  fear  rather  than 
revere  their  Achekanet-kanet,  turn  by  turn  genius  of  ill  and 
genius  of  good,"  and  of  the  Puelche  that,  like  the  Patagonians, 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE   LAND  OF  FIRE      335 

they  believe  in  a  genius  of  ill,  named  Gualichu,  or  Arraken, 
who  sometimes  becomes  beneficent,  without  need  of  prayer. 
Falkner  (cited  by  King  in  The  Voyage  of  the  Beagle,  vol.  ii, 
p.  161)  mentions  "at  the  head  of  their  good  deities,"  Guayara- 
kunny,  lord  of  the  dead.  "They  think,"  he  says,  "that  the 
good  deities  have  habitations  in  vast  caverns  under  the  earth, 
and  that  when  an  Indian  dies  his  soul  goes  to  live  with  the 
deity  who  presides  over  his  particular  family.  They  believe 
that  their  good  deities  made  the  world,  and  that  they  first 
created  the  Indians  in  the  subterranean  caverns  above  men- 
tioned; gave  them  the  lance,  bow  and  arrows,  and  the  balls 
[bolas],  to  fight  and  hunt  with,  and  then  turned  them  out  to 
shift  for  themselves.  They  imagine  that  the  deities  of  the 
Spaniards  created  them  in  a  similar  manner,  but  that,  instead 
of  lances,  bows,  etc.,  they  gave  them  guns  and  swords.  They 
say  that  when  the  beasts,  birds,  and  lesser  animals  were  created, 
those  of  the  more  nimble  kind  came  immediately  out  of  the 
caverns ;  but  that  the  bulls  and  cows  being  the  last,  the  Indians 
were  so  frightened  at  the  sight  of  their  horns,  that  they  stopped 
the  entrances  of  their  caves  with  great  stones.  This  is  the  grave 
reason  why  they  had  no  black  cattle  in  their  country,  till  the 
Spaniards  brought  them  over;  who,  more  wisely,  had  let  them 
out  of  their  caves." 

A  more  recent  account  of  what  is  a  kindred,  if  not  the  same 
myth  is  given  by  Ramon  Lista.14  The  creator-hero,  in  this  ver- 
sion, is  named  El-lal.  "El-lal  came  into  the  world  in  a  strange 
way.  His  father  Nosjthej  (a  kind  of  Saturn),  wishing  to  devour 
him,  had  snatched  him  from  his  mother's  womb.  He  owed  his 
rescue  to  the  intervention  of  the  terguerr  (a  rodent)  which 
carried  him  away  to  its  cave;  this  his  father  tried  in  vain  to 
enter.  After  having  learned  from  the  famous  rodent  the  proper- 
ties of  different  plants  and  the  directions  of  the  mountain-paths, 
El-lal  himself  invented  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  with  these 
weapons  began  the  struggle  against  the  wild  animals  —  puma, 
fox,  condor,  —  and  conquered  them  all.  But  the  father  re- 


336  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

turned.  Forgetting  the  past  El-lal  taught  him  how  to  manipu- 
late the  bow  and  the  sling,  and  joyfully  showed  him  the  trophies 
of  the  chase  —  tortoise  shells,  condor's  wings,  etc.  Nosjthej 
took  up  his  abode  in  the  cave  and  soon  acted  as  master  of  it. 
Faithful  to  his  fierce  instincts,  he  wanted  to  kill  his  son;  he 
followed  him  across  the  Andes,  but,  when  on  the  point  of  reach- 
ing him,  he  saw  a  dense  forest  arise  between  him  and  his  son. 
El-lal  was  saved;  he  descended  to  the  plain,  which  meanwhile 
had  become  peopled  with  men.  Among  them  was  a  giant, 
Goshy-e,  who  devoured  children;  El-lal  tried  to  fight  him,  but 
he  was  invulnerable;  the  arrows  broke  against  his  body.  Then 
El-lal  transformed  himself  into  a  gadfly,  entered  the  giant's 
stomach,  and  wounded  him  fatally  with  this  sting.  It  was  not 
until  he  had  accomplished  all  these  feats,  and  had  proved  him- 
self a  clever  huntsman,  that  El-lal  thought  of  marrying.  He 
asked  the  hand  of  the  daughter  of  the  Sun,  but  she  did  not  think 
him  worthy  of  her  and  escaped  him  by  a  subterfuge.  Disen- 
chanted, El-lal  decided  to  leave  the  earth,  where,  he  considered, 
his  mission  was  at  an  end,  since  man,  who  had  in  the  meantime 
appeared  in  the  plain  and  in  the  mountain  valleys,  had  learned 
from  him  the  use  of  fire,  weapons,  etc.  Borne  on  the  wings 
of  a  swan  across  the  ocean  towards  the  east,  he  found  eternal 
rest  in  the  verdant  island  which  rose  among  the  waves  at  the 
places  where  the  arrows  shot  by  him  had  fallen  on  the  surface 
of  the  water." 

This  cosmogony  is  of  the  familiar  primitive  Indian  type. 
Falkner,  in  the  passage  cited,  goes  on  to  describe  Patagonian 
beliefs  in  regard  to  the  fates  of  human  souls :  "  Some  say  that  the 
stars  are  old  Indians;  that  the  Milky  Way  is  the  field  where  the 
old  Indians  hunt  ostriches  [more  likely,  this  myth  attaches  to 
the  Southern  Cross,  as  Guevara  says  it  does  with  the  Indians 
of  Paraguay;  and  as,  in  North  America,  it  attaches  to  the  Ursa 
Major],  and  that  the  Magellan  clouds  are  the  feathers  of  the 
ostriches  which  they  kill.  They  have  an  opinion  that  the  crea- 
tion is  not  yet  exhausted;  nor  is  all  of  it  yet  come  out  to  the 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE      337 

daylight  of  this  upper  world.  The  wizards,  beating  their  drums, 
and  rattling  their  hide  bags  full  of  shells  or  stones,  pretend  to 
see  into  other  regions  under  the  earth.  Each  wizard  is  supposed 
to  have  familiar  spirits  in  attendance,  who  give  supernatural 
information,  and  execute  the  conjurer's  will.  They  believe 
that  the  souls  of  their  wizards,  after  death,  are  of  the  number 
of  these  demons,  called  Valichu,  to  whom  every  evil,  or  un- 
pleasant event  is  attributed."  fpvftcroft  Libi 

Mutatis  mutandis  this  description  would  apply  perfectly  to 
the  shamanistic  beliefs  and  practices  of  the  Polar  North,  and  it 
is  not  without  significance  that  Prichard  is  drawn  to  point  the 
essential  analogy  between  the  austral  and  boreal  aborigines  of 
America.  Substitute  the  kayak  for  the  horse,  the  seal  for  the 
guanaco,  with  such  differences  in  habit  as  these  imply,  and 
the  differences  of  the  two  peoples  (psychologically,  for  it  must 
be  owned  that  in  stature  they  are  antipodes)  become  slight. 
Certainly  their  beliefs  are  almost  identical:  a  beneficent,  but 
precarious  food-giver;  a  host  of  spiteful  and  dangerous  powers 
of  wind  and  weather;  a  sky-world  and  an  underworld,  with 
hunter-souls  pursuing  their  earthly  vocation;  fey-sighted 
wizards  and  medicine-men  with  drums.  To  be  sure  this  repre- 
sents the  foundation  stratum  of  Indian  ideas  throughout  the 
two  Americas,  the  simplest  form  of  American  religious  myth; 
but  there  is  surely  a  dramatic  propriety  in  finding  this  simplest 
form,  almost  in  its  first  purity,  at  the  wide  extremes  of  the  two 
continents. 

Have  the  conceptions  travelled,  from  pole  almost  to  pole? 
or  are  they  separate  inspirations  to  a  universal  human  nature 
from  a  never  vastly  varying  environmental  nature?  This  is  a 
riddle  not  easy  to  solve;  for  while  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
unrelated  peoples  severally  framing  the  notion  that  men  and 
animals  are  born  out  of  the  womb  of  Earth  or  that  the  image 
of  their  own  hunting  parties  is  written  in  the  constellations  — 
for,  as  Molina  remarks,  more  than  one  people  have  "regulated 
the  things  of  heaven  by  those  of  the  earth,"  —  still  it  is  odd  to 


338  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

find   such    particular  agreements   constant  from    latitude   to 
latitude  throughout  a  hemisphere. 


V.     THE   FUEGIANS 

The  Yahgan  and  Alakaluf  tribes  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  and  the 
adjacent  archipelago  enjoy  the  unenviable  distinction  of  being 
rated  as  among  the  lowest  of  human  beings  both  as  to  actual 
culture  and  possible  development.  The  earlier  navigators  re- 
garded them  as  little  more  than  animals  —  and  often,  unfor- 
tunately, treated  them  no  better.  Even  Darwin,  viewing  them 
with  the  naturalist's  eye,  saw  little  but  annoyance  in  their 
presence  and  formed  a  dismal  estimate  of  their  powers.  "We 
were  always  much  surprised  at  the  little  notice,  or  rather  none 
whatever,  which  was  evinced  respecting  many  things,  even  such 
as  boats,  the  use  of  which  must  have  been  evident.  Simple 
circumstances,  —  such  as  the  whiteness  of  our  skins,  the  beauty 
of  scarlet  cloth  or  blue  beads,  the  absence  of  women,  our  care 
in  washing  ourselves,  —  excited  their  admiration  far  more  than 
a  grand  or  complicated  object,  such  as  the  ship."  15  Darwin, 
however,  noted  that  the  Indians  had  a  sense  of  fairness  in  trade, 
and  when  missionaries  settled  among  them  other  good  quali- 
ties appeared.  Thomas  Bridges,  who  lived  with  the  Yahgan 
as  missionary  for  years,  wrote  of  them,  in  1891 :  "We  find  the 
natives  work  well  and  happily  when  assured  of  adequate  reward. 
They  shear  our  sheep,  make  fences,  saw  out  boards  and  planks 
of  all  kinds,  work  well  with  the  pick  and  spade,  are  good  boat- 
men and  pleasant  companions."  With  such  a  tribute  from  one 
who  had  lived  long  with  them  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
the  Yahgan  are  better  than  the  common  report  of  them,  — 
indeed,  quite  the  children  of  nature  which  the  not  unaffecting 
anecdotes  of  York  Minster  and  Jemmy  Button,  among  the 
voyages  of  the  Beagle,  should  lead  us  to  expect. 

"Jemmy  Button,"  says  Captain  Fitzroy,16  "was  very  super- 
stitious and  a  great  believer  in  omens  and  dreams.   He  would 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF   FIRE      339 

not  talk  of  a  dead  person,  saying,  with  a  grave  shake  of  the 
head,  'no  good,  no  good  talk;  my  country  never  talk  of  dead 
man.'  While  at  sea,  on  board  the  Beagle,  about  the  middle  of 
the  year  1832,  he  said  one  morning  to  Mr.  Bynoe,  that  in  the 
night  some  man  came  to  the  side  of  his  hammock,  and  whispered 
in  his  ear  that  his  father  was  dead.  Mr.  Bynoe  tried  to  laugh 
him  out  of  the  idea,  but  ineffectually.  He  fully  believed  that 
such  was  the  case,  and  maintained  his  opinion  up  to  the  time 
of  finding  his  relations  in  the  Beagle  Channel,  when,  I  regret  to 
say,  he  found  that  his  father  had  died  some  months  previously. 
He  did  not  forget  to  remind  Mr.  Bynoe  (his  most  confidential 
friend)  of  their  former  conversation,  and,  with  a  significant 
shake  of  the  head  said,  it  was  '  bad  ^- very  bad.'  Yet  these 
simple  words  seemed  to  express  the  extent  of  his  sorrow."  .  .  . 
Here  is  surely  as  good  a  case  of  the  "veridical"  apparition  as 
any  Researcher  could  desire. 

"Ideas  of  a  spiritual  existence  —  of  beneficent  and  evil  pow- 
ers," describes  the  nearest  notion  Captain  Fitzroy  could  get  of 
Fuegian  religion.  The  powers  of  evil  are  especially  the  powers 
of  wind  and  weather  —  naturally  enough  in  a  part  of  the  globe 
world-famous  for  its  bitter  gales  and  treacherous  waters.  "If 
anything  was  said  or  done  that  was  wrong,  in  their  opinion  it 
was  certain  to  cause  bad  weather.  Even  the  shooting  of  young 
birds,  before  they  were  able  to  fly,  was  thought  a  heinous  of- 
fence. I  remember  York  Minster  saying  one  day  to  Mr.  Bynoe, 
when  he  had  shot  some  young  ducks  with  the  old  bird  —  'Oh, 
Mr.  Bynoe,  very  bad  to  shoot  little  duck  —  come  wind  — 
come  rain  —  blow  —  very  much  blow.":  Primitive  as  they 
are,  here  are  moral  ideas  —  whether  one  explain,  reconditely, 
the  sparing  of  the  young  of  game  as  an  instinctive  conservation 
of  the  food  supply,  or,  simply,  as  due  to  a  natural  and  chival- 
.  rous  pity  for  the  helpless  young. 

Our  information  in  regard  to  the  spirit-beings  believed  in  by 
the  Fuegians  is  at  best  nebulous.  Captain  Fitzroy  tells  of  "a 
great  black  man  .  .  .  supposed  to  be  always  wandering  about 


340  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  woods  and  mountains,  who  is  certain  of  knowing  every  word 
and  action,  who  cannot  be  escaped,  and  who  influences  the 
weather  according  to  men's  conduct,"  and  again  of  thin  wild 
men,  "who  have  no  belly,"  (surely,  the  "skeleton  men"  of  the 
Eskimo  and  of  other  North  American  tribes).  Dr.  Hyades,17 
in  his  report  of  the  gleanings  of  the  French  Mission  to  Cape 
Horn,  half  a  century  after  the  famous  expeditions  of  the  Adven- 
ture and  Beagle,  gives  a  fuller,  though  still  meagre  description 
of  these  wild  folk  of  Yahgan  fancy,  —  irresistibly  reminiscent 
of  the  Fog  People  and  the  Inland  Dwellers  of  the  Eskimo  at  the 
other  extreme  of  the  hemisphere.  The  Oualapatou,  Wild  Men 
from  the  West,  are  ever-present  terrors.  They  are  heard  in 
the  noises  of  the  night,  and  hearing  them,  the  Yahgan  incon- 
tinently flee.  These  Wild  Men,  they  say,  enter  their  huts  at 
night,  cut  the  throats  of  the  occupants  and  devour  their  limbs. 
From  their  confused  accounts,  says  Dr.  Hyades,  it  would  appear 
that  the  Oualapatou  are  the  dead  returned  to  earth  to  eat  the 
living;  they  are  invisible,  except  at  the  moment  of  seizing  their 
victims,  but  they  are  heard  imitating  the  cries  of  birds  and 
animals.  Another  class  of  wild  beings  are  the  Kachpikh,  fan- 
tastic beings  that  live  in  desert  caves  or  in  thick  forests.  These, 
too,  are  invisible,  but  they  hate  man  and  cause  disease  and 
death.  Still  another  class  (reported  by  the  Missionary  Bridges) 
are  called  Hannouch.  Some  of  these  are  supposed  to  have  an 
eye  in  the  back  of  their  heads;  others  are  hairless  and  sleep 
standing  up  supported  by  a  tree;  they  hold  in  hand  a  white 
stone  which  they  hurl  with  inevitable  aim  at  any  object  soever, 
and  they  sometimes  attack  and  wound  men.  One  man,  said  to 
have  been  stolen  away  as  a  child  by  the  Hannouch,  was  named 
Hannouchmachaa'inan,  "stolen-by-the-Hannouch."  Any  man 
who  goes  off  to  live  by  himself  is  called  a  Hannouch,  while  a 
demented  person  is  regarded  as  tormented  by  one  of  these 
beings. 

The  Fuegian's  equivalent  for  the  Eskimo's  Angakok  is  the 
Yakamouch.   Bridges'  account  is  quoted  by  Hyades:  "Nearly 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE  LAND  OF  FIRE      341 

every  old  man  of  the  people  is  a  Yakamouch,  for  it  is  very  easy 
to  become  one;  they  are  recognizable  at  a  glance  from  the  gray 
colour  of  their  hair,  a  colour  produced  by  the  daily  application  of 
a  whitish  clay.  They  make  frequent  incantations  in  which  they 
appear  to  address  a  mysterious  being  named  Ai'apakal;  they 
claim  to  possess,  from  a  spirit  called  Hoakils,  a  supernatural 
power  of  life  and  death;  they  recount  their  dreams,  and  when 
they  have  eaten  in  dream  any  person,  this  signifies  that  that 
person  will  die.  It  is  believed  that  they  can  draw  from  the 
bodies  of  the  sick  the  cause  of  their  ill,  called  aikouch,  visible 
in  the  form  of  an  arrow  or  a  harpoon  point  of  flint,  which  they 
cause,  moreover,  to  issue  from  their  own  stomachs  at  will.  .  .  . 
They  seem  to  believe  that  these  sorcerers  can  influence  the 
weather  for  good  or  bad;  they  throw  shells  into  the  wind  to 
cause  it  to  cease  and  they  give  themselves  over  to  incan- 
tations and  contortions."  Women  also  may  be  Yakamouch, 
and  there  is  even  a  report  that  formerly  none  but  women 
professed  the  art. 

The  Fuegians  are  a  vanishing  people, — even  in  a  vanishing 
race.  They  have  long  and  often  been  cited  as  a  people  with- 
out religion.  After  recounting  what  is  here  narrated  of  their 
beliefs,  Dr.  Hyades  concludes :  "  In  all  these  legends,  we  see  no 
reason  seriously  to  admit  a  belief  in  supernatural  beings  or  in  a 
future  life,  and  consequently  a  religious  sentiment,  among  the 
Fuegians."  This  judgement,  however,  is  not  wholly  supported 
by  the  observations  of  others.  According  to  the  fathers  of  the 
Salesian  mission18  the  Alakaluf  believe  in  "an  invisible  being 
called  Taquatu,  whom  they  imagine  to  be  a  giant  who  travels 
by  day  and  night  in  a  big  canoe,  over  the  sea  and  rivers,  and 
who  glides  as  well  through  the  air  over  the  tops  of  the  trees 
without  bending  their  branches;  if  he  finds  any  men  or  women 
idle  or  not  on  the  alert  he  takes  them  without  more  ado  into 
his  great  boat  and  carries  them  far  away  from  home."  Captain 
Low,  of  the  Fitzroy  expedition,  asserted  that  there  was  not 
only  a  belief  in  "an  immense  black  man"  (Yaccy-ma)  responsi- 


342  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ble  for  all  sorts  of  evil,  among  the  west  Patagonian  channel 
natives,  but  also  that  they  believed  in  "a  good  spirit  whom 
they  called  Yerri  Yuppon,"  invoked  in  time  of  distress  and 
danger.  On  the  other  point,  of  belief  in  a  future  life,  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  Fuegians  recognize  some  form  of  ghost,  or 
breath-spirit,  which  haunts  the  walks  of  men.  One  missionary 
says  of  the  Yahgan  that  he  thinks  that  "when  a  man  dies,  his 
breath  goes  up  to  heaven";  nothing  similar  occurs  in  the  case 
of  animals. 

Of  myth  in  the  legendary  form  only  meagre  fragments  have 
been  gathered  from  the  Fuegians,  and  of  these  the  greater  part 
come  from  the  Ona,  who  are  akin  to  the  Tehuelche.19  According 
to  Ona  lore  there  formerly  "lived  on  earth  bearded  white  men; 
the  sun  and  moon  were  then  husband  and  wife;  when  men  began 
to  war,  the  sun  and  moon  returned  to  the  sky  and  sent  down  a 
red  star,  the  planet  Mars,  which  turned  into  a  giant  on  the  way; 
the  giant  killed  all  men,  then  made  two  mountains  or  clods  of 
clay,  from  one  of  which  rose  the  first  Ona  man  and  from  the 
other  the  first  Ona  woman."  The  same  tribe  have  a  tradition 
of  a  cataclysm  which  separated  the  island  on  which  they  dwell 
from  the  mainland.  Both  the  Ona  and  the  Yahgan  have  tradi- 
tions of  a  flood  and  tales  of  earth-born  men;  and  each  of  these 
peoples  has  also  a  mythic  hero  (Kuanip  is  the  Ona,  Oumoara 
the  Yahgan  name)  concerning  whom  tales  are  told.  Some  of 
their  stories  appear  to  relate  to  historical  transformations  in  the 
mode  of  tribal  life,  as  the  tradition  (maintained  by  both  tribes) 
that  in  former  times  the  women  were  the  tribal  rulers,  that 
the  men  rebelled,  and  invented  initiation  rites  and  the  ruse 
of  masked  spirits  in  order  to  keep  the  women  in  subjection  — 
a  type  of  myth  which,  however,  is  rather  more  plausibly,  of  an 
aetiological  than  of  an  historical  character.  In  the  main, 
nature  is  the  theme  of  mythic  thought,  and  there  is  perhaps 
no  more  unique  a  group  of  ideas  among  these  peoples  of  the  Far 
South  than  the  Yahgan  conception  of  the  relations  of  the 
celestial  beings :  the  moon,  they  say,  is  the  wife  of  the  rainbow, 


THE  PAMPAS  TO  THE   LAND  OF  FIRE      343 

while  the  sun  is  elder  brother  to  the  moon  and  to  shining 
Venus. 


There  is  much  in  the  culture  and  fancies  of  these  peoples  of 
austral  America  to  recall  the  culture  and  fancies  of  their  remote 
kinsmen  of  the  Polar  North.  The  two  Americas  measure,  as  it 
were,  the  longitude  of  human  habitation,  marked  off  zone  by 
zone  into  every  variety  of  climate  and  terrain  to  which  men's 
lives  can  be  accommodated.  Moreover,  the  native  peoples  of 
this  New  World  show  a  oneness  of  race  nowhere  else  to  be 
found  over  so  great  an  area;  so  that,  in  spite  of  differences 
in  culture  almost  as  great  as  those  which  mark  the  heights  and 
depths  of  human  condition  in  the  more  anciently  peopled  hemi- 
sphere, there  is  a  recognizable  unity  binding  together  Eskimo 
and  Aztec,  Inca  and  Yahgan.  Now  what  is  surely  most  im- 
pressive is  that  this  unity  is  best  represented  neither  by  physical 
appearance  nor  material  achievement  (where,  indeed,  the  dif- 
ferences are  most  magnified),  but  by  a  conservation  of  ideas 
and  of  the  symbolic  language  of  myth  which  is  at  bottom  one. 
Not  that  there  is  any  single  level  of  thought  common  to  all, 
for  there  is  surely  a  world  of  intelligence  between  the  imagina- 
tive splendour  of  Mayan  art  and  science  and  tradition  and  the 
dimly  haunted  soul  of  the  Fuegian  who  "supposes  the  sun  and 
moon,  male  and  female,  to  be  very  old  indeed,  and  that  some 
old  man,  who  knew  their  maker,  had  died  without  leaving  in- 
formation on  this  subject";20  but  that  no  matter  what  the 
failure  to  build  or  the  erosion  of  superstructure,  or  indeed  no 
matter  what  the  variety  of  superstructures  as,  for  example, 
made  apparent  in  the  characteristic  colours  of  North  American 
and  South  American  mythologies,  there  is  still  au  fond  a  single 
racial  complexion  of  mind,  with  a  recognizable  kinship  of  the 
spiritual  life.  Through  vast  geographical  distances,  among 
peoples  long  mutually  forgotten  if  ever  mutually  known,  in 
every  variety  of  natural  garb,  polar  and  tropical,  forest  and  sea, 
this  kinship  persists,  not  favoured  by,  but  in  spite  of,  environ- 


344  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

merits  the  most  changing.  It  is  not  necessary  here  invariably 
to  assume  migrations  of  ideas,  passed  externally  from  tribe  to 
tribe,  although  evidence  of  these,  recent  and  remote,  is  frequent 
enough;  it  is  not  sufficient  to  postulate  merely  the  psychical 
unity  of  our  common  human  nature,  although  this,  too,  is  a 
factor  which  we  should  not  neglect;  but  along  with  these  we 
may  reasonably  conceive  that  the  American  race,  through  its 
long  isolation,  even  in  its  most  tenuously  connected  branches 
retains  a  certain  deep  communion  of  thought  and  feeling,  a 
lasting  participation  in  its  own  mode  of  insight  and  its  own 
quest  of  inspiration,  which  unites  it  across  the  stretches  of 
time  and  space.  The  arctic  tern  is  said  to  summer  in  the  two 
polar  zones,  arctic  and  antarctic,  trued  to  its  enormous  flight 
by  the  most  mystifying  of  all  animal  instincts.  Perhaps  it  is 
some  human  instinct  as  profound  and  as  mystifying  which 
joins  in  one  thought  the  scattered  peoples  of  the  two  continents, 
charting  in  modes  more  subtle  than  their  obvious  forms  can 
suggest  the  impulses  which  lead  men  to  see  their  environmental 
world  not  as  their  physical  eyes  perceive  it,  but,  belied  by  their 
eyes,  as  inner  and  whispering  voices  proclaim  it  to  be. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


INTRODUCTION 

1.  That  there  is  an  ultimate  community  of  culture  and  thought 
between  the  Andean  and  Mexican  regions  can  hardly  be  doubted. 
Furthermore,  it  is  not  merely  primitive,  but  belongs  to  an  era  of 
some  advancement  in  the  arts.    Spinden  (Ancient  Civilizations  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America  [New  York,  1917],  and  elsewhere)  has 
termed  the  early  stage  the  "archaic  period,"  and  he  plausibly  argues 
for  its  Mexican  origination  and  southward  migration.    But  at  any 
rate  since  near  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era  the  civilizations  of 
the  two  regions  have  developed  in  virtual  independence. 

2.  The  most  admirable  general  introduction  to  the  whole  subject 
of  American  ethnography  is  Wissler,    The  American  Indian  (New 
York,  1917). 

3.  The  transition  from  the  Antilles  to  Guiana  is,  however,  rather 
more  marked  than  is  that  from  the  Orinoco  to  the  Amazonian  regions. 
Virtually  the  whole  South  American  region  bounded  by  the  Andes, 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  the  Argentinian  Pampas  is  one  ethnographi- 
cally;  so  that,  in  the  present  work,  Chapters  VIII  and  IX  are  de- 
scriptive of  a  single  region.    However,  the  great  rivers  have  always 
been  natural  routes  of  exploration,  and  this  has  given  to  the  river 
systems   an  ethnographically  factitious,   but  bibliographically   real 
differentiation. 

4.  Wm.  Henry  Brett,  Legends  and  Myths  of  the  Aboriginal  Indians 
of  British  Guiana  (London,  no  date). 

5.  For  a  history  of  this  interesting  movement  in  certain  phases  of 
European  culture  see  Gilbert  Chinard,  UExotisme  americain  (Paris, 
1911). 

CHAPTER  T 

i.  Among  early  writers  on  Antillean  religion  the  most  important 
are  Christopher  Columbus,  Ramon  Pane,  and  Peter  Martyr  d'Anghi- 
era.  Columbus  left  Fray  Ramon  Pane  in  Haiti  with  instructions  to 
report  on  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  natives;  and  in  Fernando  Colum- 
bus's  Historie,  ch.  Ixii,  Pane's  narrative  is  incorporated,  introduced 
by  a  brief  quotation  from  Christopher  Columbus,  describing  Zemiism. 


348  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

After  Pane,  the  account  of  Haitian  religion  in  Peter  Martyr's  "  First 
Decade"  is  the  most  important  source,  although  Benzoni,  Gomara, 
Herrera,  Las  Casas,  and  Oviedo  give  additional  or  corroborative 
information.  Of  recent  writings  those  of  J.  W.  Fewkes,  embodying 
the  results  of  careful  archaeological  studies,  form  the  most  important 
contribution.  Part  ii  of  Joyce's  Central  American  and  West  Indian 
Archaeology  gives  a  general  survey  of  the  field,  which  is  more  briefly 
treated  in  livre  ii,  3e  partie,  of  Beuchat's  Manuel,  and  in  its  com- 
parative aspects  by  Wissler,  The  American  Indian. 

2.  Beuchat,  Joyce  [a],  and  Fewkes  [b]  describe  the  condition  of 
the  Antilleans  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  as  reconstructed  from 
early  accounts  and  archaeological  investigations.    Of  the  early  writ- 
ings, the  descriptions  of  Las  Casas  are  the  most  detailed.    The  use  of 
Taino  to  designate  the  island  Arawakan  tribes  follows  Fewkes  [b], 
p.  26:  "Among  the  first  words  heard  by  the  comrades  of  Columbus 
when  they  landed  in  Guadeloupe  were  'Taino!  tainoT —  'Peace! 
peace!'  or  'We  are  friends.'    The  designation  'taino'  has  been  used 
by  several  writers  as  a  characteristic  name  for  the  Antillean  race. 
Since  it  is  both  significant  and  euphonious,  it  may  be  adopted  as  a 
convenient  substitute  for  the  adjective  'Antillean'  to  designate  a 
cultural  type.    The  author  applies  the  term  to  the  original  sedentary 
people  of  the  West  Indies,  as  distinguished  from  the  Carib."    The 
incident  to  which  reference  is  made  is  described  in  Select  Letters  of 
Columbus  (#5),  p.  28.    It  is  perhaps  worth  while  to  note  that  Peter 
Martyr  (tr.  MacNutt,  i.  66,  81)  says  that  taino  signifies  "a  virtuous 
man."    The  word  carib,  caniba,  is  the  source  of  our  cannibal.    It  is 
possible  that  it  means  "man-eater"  and  is  of  Taino  origin.    Colum- 
bus, in  the  Journal  of  the  first  voyage  (tr.  Bourne,  p.  223),  is  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  "Carib"  is  the  Hispaniolan  form  of  the 
name.  Im  Thurn  (p.  163)  says  that  the  Guiana  Carib  call  themselves 
Carinya,  which  would  seem  to  show  that  the  word  is  an  autonym,  in 
which  case  it  may  mean,  as  Herrera  says  (III.  v),  "valiant."    It  is 
rather  curious,  if  the  insular  Carib  were  the  inveterate  cannibals  the 
earlier  writers  make  them  to  be,  that  those  of  the  mainland  should 
have  held  the  practice  in  abhorrence,  for  which  we  have  Humboldt's 
statement,  Foyage  (tr.  Ross,  ii.  413). 

3.  A  term  of  some  interest  is  cacique,  which  is  generally  regarded 
as  Haitian  in  origin,  being,  says  Peter  Martyr  (tr.  MacNutt,  i.  82) 
their  word  for  "king."     Bastian,  however,  affirms  that  it  is  Arabic 
(ii.   293,   note):*" Das  Wort   Cazique  ist  nicht  amerikanisch,   sino 
arabigo,  usado  entre  los  alarabes  de  Africa  en  el  Reyno  de  Mazagan, 
con  el  qual  nombran  al  principal  y  cabegas  de  los  aduares,  como 
tambien  le  nombran  Xeque  (meint  Simon)." 

4.  The  literature  of  the  discovery  is  summarized  by  Beuchat, 


NOTES  .      349 

"  Bibliographic,"  ch.  iv.     Christopher  Columbus's  Letters  and  Jour- 
nal, tr.  Major,  Markham,  and  Bourne,  are  here  quoted. 

5.  The  question  of  Amazons  (cf.  infra,  Ch.  IX,  i),  is  a  curious 
commingling  of  Old  and  New  World  myth,  with,  perhaps,  some 
foundation  in  primitive  custom,  especially  linguistic.    Thus  Beuchat, 
p.  509  (citing  Raymond  Breton  and  Lucien  Adam;  cf.  also  Ballet, 
citing  du  Tertre,  pp.  398-99),  states  that  the  Caribs  of  the  Isles  had 
separate  vocabularies,  in  part  at  least,  for  men  and  women,  and  that 
the  women's  speech  contained  a  majority  of  Arawak  words.     This 
argument  should  not  be  pushed  too  far,  however,  for  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  South  American  languages  with  well-differentiated  man-tongue 
and  woman-tongue,  where  a  similar  origin  of  the  difference  is  not 
shown.    On  his  first  voyage  Columbus  (letters  to  de  Santangel  and 
Sanchez),  though  he  did  not  meet  them,  heard  of  "ferocious  men, 
eaters  of  human  flesh,  wearing  their  hair  long  like  women."   On  the 
second  voyage  —  as  described  by  Chanca  in  his  "Letter  to  the  Chap- 
ter of  Seville"  (Select  Letters)  —  the  Caribs  were  encountered  and 
found  to  be  holding  in  slavery  many  Tamo  women:  "In  their  attacks 
upon  the  neighbouring  islands,  these  people  capture  as  many  of  the 
women  as  they  can,  especially  those  who  are  young  and  beautiful, 
and  keep  them  as  concubines;  and  so  great  a  number  do  they  carry 
off,  that  in  fifty  houses  no  men  were  to  be  seen"  (p.  31).    It  is  added 
that  the  Caribs  ate  the  children  born  of  these  captive  women  (a  cus- 
tom ascribed  also  to  some  South  American  cannibalistic  tribes) ;  but 
as  it  is  said  in  the  same  connexion  that  captive  boys  were  not  de- 
voured until  they  grew  up,  "for  they  say  that  the  flesh  of  boys  and 
women  is  not  good  to  eat,"  the  story  is  scarcely  plausible.   Herrera 
repeats  that  the  Caribs  ate  no  women,  but  kept  them  as  slaves,  in 
association  with  the  statement  that  the  natives  of  Dominica  ate  a 
friar,  and  dying  of  a  flux  caused  by  his  flesh,  gave  over  their  canni- 
balism.   These  stories  seem  to  point  to  a  ritualistic  element  in  the 
cannibalism,  for  to  the  Carib  the  flesh  of  warriors  was  the  only  man's 
meat.    Of  course,  in  the  notion  of  Amazons  there  was  an  element  of 
myth  as  well  as  of  custom,  and  the  myth  was  certainly  known  to 
Columbus,  if  we  may  trust  the  authenticity  (and  there  is  small  reason 
to  doubt  it)  of  the  paragraph  with  which  Ramon  Pane's  narrative 
is  introduced.    For  the  myth  in  question  see  supra,  pp.  31—32,  and 
cf.  Pane,  chh.  iii-v. 

6.  The    story  of  the    search   for   the   Fountain  of    Youth  and 
of  the  colony  of  Antillean  Indians  in  Florida  is  to  be  found  in 
Fontaneda,  pp.  17-19.    The  influence  of  Antillean  culture  has  been 
traced  well  to  the  north  of  Florida,  where  it  may  have  been  ex- 
tended   by    the    pre-Muskhogean    population;    see    also    Herrera, 
III.  v. 


350  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

7.  The  story  of  Hathvey,  or  Hatuey,  is  given  by  Fewkes  [b],  pp. 
211-12,  and  by  Joyce  [a],  p.  244;  its  source  is  Las  Casas  [a],  III.  xxv. 

8.  West  Indian  idolatry,  called  Zemiism,  is  earliest  described  in 
the  passage  attributed  to  Christopher  Columbus  (Fernando  Colum- 
bus, ch.  Ixi);  other  authorities  here  quoted  are  Benzoni,  pp.  78-80; 
Peter  Martyr,  "First  Decade,"  ix  (tr.  MacNutt,  i.  167-78);  Ramon 
Pane,  ch.   xix-xxiv  (tr.  Pinkerton,  xii.  87-89);   and  Las  Casas  [b], 
chh.    clxvi-vii;   cf.    also    Fewkes,  especially  [b],  [e],  Joyce  [a],  and 
Beuchat. 

9.  The  most  interesting  artifacts  from  the  Antilles  are  the  stone 
rings,  triangles,  and  elbows,  which  must  be  regarded  as  certainly 
ritualistic  in  character,  and  probably  as  used  in  fertility  rites.    This 
is  not  only  indicated  by  Columbus  and  Ramon  Pane,  but  is  sup- 
ported by  numerous  analogies.    Ramon  Pane  (ch.  xix)  says:  "The 
stone  cemis  are  of  several  sorts:  some  there  are  which,  they  say,  the 
physicians  take  out  of  the  body  of  the  sick,  and  those  they  look  upon 
as  best  to  help  women  in  labour.   Others  there  are  that  speak,  which 
are  shaped  like  a  long  turnip,  with  the  leaves  long  and  extended,  like 
the  shrub-bearing  capers.    Those  leaves,  for  the  most  part,  are  like 
those  of  the  elm.    Others  have  three  points,  and  they  think  they 
cause  the  yucca  to  thrive."    It  is  perhaps  not  far-fetched  to  see  in 
the   triangular  stones   analogues  of   the  mountain-man   images   of 
the   Tlaloque    in  Mexico,  or   of   the    similar  images    from  South 
America,  certainly  used  in  connexion  with  rain  ceremonies.    Very 
likely  separate  forms  were  employed  for  different  plants,  as  maize 
or  yucca.    The  stone  rings,  again,  could  very  reasonably  be  those 
which  were  supposed  to  help  women  in  labour,  as  seems  to  have 
been  the  case  with  the  analogous  rings  and  yokes  from  Yucatan 
(see  Fewkes,  25  ARBE,  pp.  259-61).     Even  if  the  two  types  of 
stones  were  combined,  as  seems  altogether  likely,  at  least  for  magic 
and  divination,  there  is  congruity  in  the  relationship  of  both  types 
to  fertility,  animal  and  vegetable  respectively.    Serior  J.  J.  Acosta 
has  suggested  that  the  Antillean  stone  rings  represent  the  bodies, 
and  the  triangular  stones  the  heads,  of  serpents;  and  this  is  not 
without  plausibility  in  view  of  the  frequency  with  which  serpents  are 
regarded  as  fertility  emblems.    It  may  be  worth  recalling,  too,  that 
an  Antillean  name  for  doctor,  or  medicine-man,  signified  "serpent." 

10.  There  is  no  reason  to  assume  any  essential  difference  in  char- 
acter in  the  shamans  or  medicine-men  of  the  North  and  South  Ameri- 
can Indians.    In  general,  the  lower  the  tribe  in  the  scale  of  political 
organization,  the  more  important  is  the  shaman  or  doctor,  and  the 
more  distinctly  individual  and  the  less  tribal  are  the  offices  which  he 
performs;  as  organization  grows  in  social  complexity,  the  function  of 
priest  emerges  as  distinct  from  that  of  doctor,  the  priest  becoming 


NOTES  351 

the  depository  of  ritual,  and  the  doctor  or  shaman,  on  a  somewhat 
lower  level,  attending  the  sick  or  practising  magic  and  prophecy. 
Apparently  in  the  Antilles  the  two  offices  were  on  the  way  to  differ- 
entiation, if,  indeed,  they  were  not  already  distinct.  The  bohutis, 
buhuitihus,  boii,  or,  as  Peter  Martyr  latinizes,  bovites  of  this  region 
were  evidently  both  doctors  and  priests.  Certainly  both  Ramon 
Pane's  and  Peter  Martyr's  descriptions  imply  this;  though  there  are 
some  hints  which  would  seem  to  point  to  a  special  class  of  ritual 
priests,  who  may  or  may  not  have  been  doctors,  as  when  priests  are 
said  to  act  as  mouthpieces  of  the  cacique  in  giving  oracles  from 
hollow  statues,  or  as  when  Martyr  (following  Pane)  says  that  "only 
the  sons  of  chiefs"  are  allowed  to  learn  the  traditional  chants  of  the 
great  ceremonials  (p.  172).  The  term  peaiman,  applied  to  the  sha- 
mans of  the  Guiana  tribes,  is,  says  im  Thurn  (p.  328),  an  Anglicized 
form  of  the  Carib  word  puyai  or  peartzan.  The  peatman,  im  Thurn 
states,  "is  not  simply  the  doctor,  but  also,  in  some  sense,  the  priest 
or  magician."  As  matter  of  fact,  the  priestly  element  is  slight  among 
the  continental  Caribs,  their  practice  being  pure  shamanism;  and 
Fewkes  ([b],  p.  54)  says  that  they  "  still  speak  of  their  priests  as  ceci- 
semi"  —  a  term  clearly  related  to  zemi.  "The  prehistoric  Porto 
Ricans,"  he  says  again  (ib.  p.  59),  "had  a  well-developed  priesthood, 
called  boii  (serpents),  mabouya,  and  bukiti,  which  are  apparently 
dialect  or  other  forms  of  the  same  word."  It  was  in  Porto  Rico,  of 
course,  that  Carib  and  Tamo  elements  were  most  mixed.  Brett  [a], 
p.  363,  in  a  note,  derives  the  word  piai  from  Carib  puiai,  which,  he 
says,  is  in  Ackawoi  piatsan;  while  the  Arawak  use  semecihi,  and  the 
Warau  wisidaa,  for  the  same  functionary.  Certainly  the  resemblance 
of  boye  and  puiai,  and  of  zemi  and  semecihi,  or  ceci-semi,  indicates 
identities  of  origin,  though  the  particular  meanings  are  not  alto- 
gether the  same. 

1 1 .  Little  is  preserved  of  Antillean  myth,  and  that  little  is  contained 
almost  wholly  in  the  narrative  of  Ramon  Pane.   The  authorities  here 
quoted   are  [Ramon   Pane,  chh.  i,  ix-xi,  ii-vii   (tr.   Pinkerton,  xii) ; 
Peter  Martyr  (tr.  MacNutt,  i.  167-70);  Benzoni;  and  Ling  Roth,  in 
JAI  xvi.  264-65.   Stoddard  gives  free  versions  of  several  of  the  tales. 

12.  Peter  Martyr,  loc.  cit.  (quoting  pp.  166-67,  172-76). 

13.  Gomara  [a],  ch.  xxvii,  p.   173,  ed.  Vedia  (tr.  Fewkes  [b],  pp. 
66-67);  cf.  Benzoni,  pp.  79-82;  Las  Casas  [b],  ch.  clxvii.   The  plate 
representing  the  Earth  Spirit  ceremony  is  taken  from  (cf.  Fewkes 
[b],  Plate  IX)  Picart,  The  Religious  Ceremonies  and  Customs  of  the 
Several  Nations  of  the  known  World,  London,  1731-37,  Plate  No.  78. 

-•  14.  Im  Thurn,  pp.  335~38;  cf.  Fewkes  [e],  p.  355. 

15.  Ramon  Pane,  chh.  xiv,  xxv;  Gomara  [a],  ch.  xxxiii,  pp.  175- 
76,  ed.  Vedia,  gives  supplementary  information. 


352  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

1 6.  Authorities  cited  for  Carib  lore  are  Columbus,  Select  Letters  t 
pp.  29-37;  im  Thurn,  pp.  192,  217,  222;  Fewkes  [b],  pp.  27,  217-20, 
68;  Ballet,  citing  du  Tertre  and  others,  pp.  421—22,  433-38,  400—01; 
Davies,  cited  by  Fewkes  [b],  pp.  60,  65;  Currier,  citing  la  Borde, 
pp.  508-09. 

CHAPTER  II 

1.  Holmes,  "Areas  of  American  Culture"  (in  A  A,  new  series,  xvi, 
1914)  gives  a  chart  of  North  America  showing  five  culture  areas  for 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  in  general  corresponding  to  the  group- 
ing here  made.  The  American  Indian  of  Wissler,  the  Ancient  Civiliza- 
tions of  Spinden,  the  Manuel  of  Beuchat  and  the  Mexican  Archae- 
ology of  Joyce  follow  approximately  the  same  lines.   E.  G.  Tarayre's 
"Report"  in  Archives  de  la  commission  scientifique  du  Mexique,  iii 
(Paris,  1867)  contains  "Notes  ethnographiques  sur  les  regions  mexi- 
caines."    For  linguistic  divisions  the  standard  works  are  Orozco  y 
Berra  [b],  Nicolas  Leon  [a],  and  especially  Thomas  and  Swanton, 
Indian  Languages  of  Mexico  and  Central  America   (44  BBE};  cf. 
Mechling  [b].    Contemporary  ethnography  is  described  in  Lumholtz 
[a],  [b],  [c],  in  McGee,  and  in  Starr  [a],  [b]. 

2.  Doubtless  it  should  be  stated  at  the  outset  that  there  is  serious 
and  reasonable  question  on  the  part  of  not  a  few  students  of  aborig- 
inal Mexico  as  to  whether  Aztec  institutions  merit  the  name  "em- 
pire" in  any  sense  analogous  to  those  of  the  imperial  states  of  the 
Old  World.    "A  loose  confederacy  of  democratic  Indians"  is  the 
phrase  employed  by  Waterman  [a],  p.  250,  in  describing  the  form  of 
the  Mexican  state  as  it  is  pictured  by  Morgan,  Bandelier,  Fiske,  and 
others  (see  Waterman,  loc.  cit.,  for  sources) ;  and  it  is  altogether  rea- 
sonable to  expect  that  Americanist  studies  will  eventually  show  that 
the  great  Middle  American  nations  were  developed  from,  and  re- 
tained characteristics  of,  communities  resembling  the  Pueblos  of  our 
own  Southwest  rather  than  the  European  states  which  the  Spaniards 
had  in  the  eye  when  they  made  their  first  observations.    It  is  to  be 
expected,  too,  that  a  changed  complexion  put  upon  the  interpretation 
of  Mexican   society  will   eventually   modify   the   interpretation  of 
Mexican  ritual  and  mythology,  giving  it,  for  example,  something 
less  of  the  uranian  significance  upon  which  scholars  of  the  school  of 
Forstemann  and  Seler  put  so  great  weight,  and  something  more,  if 
not  of  the  Euhemerism  of  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  at  least  of  reliance 
upon  social  motives  and  historical  traditions. 

3.  Of  all  regions  of  primitive  America,  ancient  Mexico  is  repre- 
sented by  the  most  extensive  literature;  and  here,  too,  more  has  been 
transmitted  directly  from  native  sources  than  is  the  case  elsewhere. 
The  hieroglyphic  codices,  the  anonymous  Historia  de  los  Mexicanos 


NOTES  353 

por  sus  pinturas  and  Hisioria  de  los  Reynos  de  Colhuacan  y  de  Mexico 
(better  known  and  commonly  cited  as  The  Annals  of  Quauhtitlan) , 
and  the  writings  of  men  of  native  blood  in  the  Spanish  period,  notably 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Tezozomoc,  and  Chimalpahin,  are  the  most  important 
of  these  sources;  unless,  as  is  doubtless  proper,  the  works  of  Sahagun, 
originally  written  in  Nahuatl  from  native  sources, 'be  here  included 
—  undoubtedly  the  single  source  of  greatest  importance.  Among 
Spanish  writers  of  the  early  period,  after  Sahagun,  the  most  im- 
portant are  Cristobal  del  Castillo,  Diego  Duran,  Gomara,  Herrera, 
Mendieta,  Motolinia,  Tobar,  and  Torquemada.  Boturini,  Clavigero, 
Veytia,  Kingsborough,  Prescott,  and  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  are 
important  names  of  the  intermediate  period;  while  recent  scholarship 
is  represented  by  Brinton,  Bancroft,  Hamy,  Garcia  Icazbalceta,  Orozco 
y  Berra,  Peiiafiel,  Ramirez,  Rosny,  and  most  conspicuously  by  Seler. 
The  most  convenient  recent  introductions  to  the  subject  are  afforded 
by  Beuchat,  Manuel;  Joyce,  Mexican  Archaeology;  Spinden,  Ancient 
Civilizations  of  Mexico;  while  the  best  guide  to  the  whole  literature 
is  Lehmann's  "Ergebnisse  und  Aufgaben  der  mexikanistischen 
Forschung,"  in  Archiv  fur  Anthropologie,  new  series,  vi,  1907  (trans- 
lated as  Methods  and  Results  in  Mexican  Research,  Paris,  1909).  But 
while  the  material  is  relatively  abundant,  it  is  so  only  for  the  dom- 
inant race  represented  by  the  Aztec.  For  the  non-Nahuatlan 
civilizations  of  Mexico  the  literature  is  sparse,  especially  upon 
the  side  of  mythology.  Sahagun  gives  certain  details,  mainly  in- 
cidental, except  in  X.  xxix,  which  is  devoted  to  a  brief  description 
of  the  peoples  of  Mexico.  Gomara,  Herrera,  and  Torquemada 
afford  added  materials,  touching  several  regions.  For  the  Totonac- 
Huastec  region  the  sources  are  particularly  scanty,  except  for 
such  descriptions  of  externals  as  naturally  appear  in  the  chronicles 
of  Cortez,  Bernal  Diaz,  and  other  conquistador -es  who  here  made 
their  first  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  mainland  natives. 
Fewkes  [g]  deals  with  the  monuments  of  the  Totonac  region,  and 
expresses  the  opinion  (p.  241,  note)  that  the  Codex  Tro-Cortesianus, 
commonly  said  to  be  Maya,  was  obtained  in  this  region,  near  Cem- 
poalan;  Holmes  [b],  and  Seler,  in  numerous  places,  are  also  material 
sources  for  interpretation  of  the  monuments.  For  the  Tarascans  of 
Michoacan  the  most  important  source  is  an  anonymous  Relacion  de 
las  ceremonias,  rictos,  poblacion  y  gobernacion  de  los  Indios  de  Michua- 
can  hecha  al  illmo.  Sr.  D.  Ant.  de  Mendoza  (Madrid,  1875;  Morelia, 
.1903),  while  of  recent  studies  Nicolas  Leon's  Los  Tarascos  (see 
Leon  [c])  is  the  most  comprehensive.  The  Mixtec-Zapotec  area  fares 
better,  both  as  to  number  of  sources  and  later  studies.  Burgoa,  Juan 
de  Cordoba,  Gregorio  Garcia,  Balsalobre,  Herrera,  Las  Casas,  and 
Torquemada  are  the  primary  authorities;  while  the  most  significant 


354  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

later  studies  are  doubtless  those  of  Seler,  "The  Mexican  Chronology 
with  Special  Reference  to  the  Zapotec  Calendar,"  and  "Wall  Paint- 
ings of  Mitla,"  both  in  28  BBE.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  bk.  ix, 
deals  with  the  Mixtec-Zapotec  and  Tarascan  peoples,  and  is  still  a 
good  introduction  to  the  literature.  Cf.  also  Alvarez;  Castellanos 
(himself  a  Zapotec);  Genin;  Leon  [dj;  Mechling;  Portillo;  Radin. 

4.  The  works  of  Clavigero,  Helps,  Prescott,  Orozco  y  Berra  [b], 
and  Veytia  are  the  best-known  histories  narrating  the  Spanish  con- 
quest of  Mexico.    Of  the  earlier  writers  Bernal  Diaz,  who  took  part 
in  the  expeditions  of  Cordova  and  Grijalva,  as  well  as  in  that  of 
Cortez,  is  the  most  important  (of  his  work  there  are  several  English 
translations  besides  that  of  Maudsley  in  HS  —  by  Maurice  Keatinge, 
London,  1800,  by  John  G.  Lockhart,  London,  1844,  and  a  condensed 
version  by  Kate  Stephens,  The  Mastering  of  Mexico,  New  York,  1915). 

5.  Bernal    Diaz,  ch.  xcii   (quoted),   describes  the  ascent  of   the 
temple  overlooking  Tlatelolco.   Seler  [a],  ii.  769-70,  says  that  on 
the  upper  platform  were  two  shrines,  one  to  Tlaloc,  the  other  to  the 
three  idols  described  by  Bernal  Diaz,  of  which  the  principal  was  not 
"Huichilobos"  (Huitzilopochtli),  but  Coatlicue,  the  earth  goddess. 
The  "page"  Seler  regards  as  the  tutelary  of  Tlatelolco,  called  Tla- 
cauepan.   The  great  temple  of  Huitzilopochtli  was  in  the  centre  of 
the  city,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Cathedral.    See  Leon  y  Gama; 
Seler  [a],  loc.  cit.;  and  cf.  Zelia  Nuttall,  "L'Eveque  Zumarraga  et  les 
principales   idoles  du   Templo  Mayor  de  Mexico,"  in  SocAA  xxx 
(1911). 

6.  General  descriptions  of  the  Aztec  pantheon  are  given  by  Beu- 
chat,  livre  ii,  le  partie,  chh.  v,  vi,  and  by  Joyce  [b],  ch.  ii.    The  most 
important  early  source  is  Sahagun,  bk.  i;  other  primary  sources  are 
Mendieta,  bk.  ii  (derived  from  de  Olmos),  Leon  y  Gama  (in  part 
from  Cristobal  del  Castillo),  Ruiz  de  Alarcon,  Jacinto  de  la  Serna, 
the  Tratado  de  los  ritos  y  ceremonias  y  dioses  of  the  Codice  Ramirez 
(see  Tobar,  in  Bibliography),  and  the  explanations  of  the  Codices 
Vaticanus  A   and  Telleriano-Remensis  (Kingsborough,   v,   vi).    Of 
recent  works  the  most  significant  are  Seler  [a]  (collected  essays),  and 
[b],  [c],  [d],  [e]  (analyses  of  divinatory  or  astrological  codices). 

7.  For  data  concerning  the  use  of  these  numbers  by  American 
peoples  north  of  Mexico,  see  Mythology  of  All  Races,  Boston,  1916,  x, 
Ch.  IX,  iv,  and  Notes  ii,  31,  42,  50,  with  references  there  given. 
Further  allusions  to  the  nine  and  thirteen  of  Mexican  cosmology  will 
be  found  infra,  Ch.  Ill,  i,  iii.  The  origin  of  the  peculiar  uses  of  the 
number  thirteen  is  a  puzzle  without  satisfactory  solution.    In  the 
explanation  of  Vaticanus  A  (Kingsborough,  vi.  198,  note),  it  is  said  — 
referring  to  the  statement  that  "Tonacatecotle"  presides  over  the 
"thirteen  causes"  —  that   "the  causes   are  really  only  nine,  cor- 


NOTES  355 

responding  in  number  with  the  heavens.  But  since  four  of  them 
are  reckoned  twice  in  every  series  of  thirteen  days,  in  order  that 
each  day  might  be  placed  under  some  peculiar  influence,  they  are 
said  to  be  thirteen."  This,  however,  is  probably  assuming  effect  for 
cause  (cf.  Ch.  Ill,  iii). 

8.  Sahagun,  VI.  xxxii.   Other  references  to  Sahagun  are,  III,  Ap- 
pendix i;  X.  xxi. 

9.  Seler  [b],  p.  31;  [c],  pp.  5,  10,  14. 

10.  Seler  [c],  pp.  5—31,  where  he  discusses  the  whole  problem  of 
cruciform  and  caryatid  figures;  as  also  in  [e],  ii.,  107,  126-34;  [d],  PP- 

76-93' 

11.  Seler  [a],  index,  s.  vv.,  is  a  guide  to  the  manifold  attributes  of 
the  Aztec  gods.    The  most  important  myths  concerning  them  are 
related  by  Sahagun,  bk.  iii,  and  by  the  authorities  cited  with  respect 
to  cosmogonies,  infra,  Ch.  Ill,  i,  ii. 

12.  See  especially  Seler  [a],  ii,  "Die  Ausgrabungen  am  Orte  des 
Haupttempels  in  Mexico";  [c],  p.  112;  Sahagun,  III.  i;  Tratado  de  los 
Ritos,  etc.  (seeTobar,  in  Bibliography);  Robelo  [a],j.  v.;  and  Charency, 
UOrigine  de  la  legende  d'Huitzilopochtli  (Paris,  1897);  cf.  also  infra, 
Ch.  Ill,  v.  The  story  of  Tlahuicol  is  given  by  Clavigero,  V.  vi. 

13.  See  Seler  [b],  p.  60;  [c],  pp.  33,  205;  [d],  pp.^77,  9S~96;  [e],  index. 
The  prayers   quoted   are  in  Sahagun,  VI.  i,   iv,  v,  vi;  while  the 
famous  sacrifice  is  described  in  II.  v,  xxiv  (also  by  Torquemada, 
VII.  xix  and  X.  xiv;  and    picturesquely  by  Prescott,  I.  iii).    The 
myths  are  in  Sahagun,  III.  iv  ff.;  a  version  with  a  different  list  of 
magicians  (Ihuimecatl  and  Toltecatl  are  the  companions  of  Tezcatli- 
poca)  is  given  by  Ramirez,  Andes  de  Cuauhtitlan,  pp.  17-18. 

14.  See  Seler,  indexes,  and  the  picturesque  and  romantic  treat- 
ment by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  iii.    The  more  striking  early 
sources    are    Sahagun,    III.    iii-xv;    VI.    vii,    xxv    (quoted),    xxxiv 
(quoted);   IX.  xxix;   X.    iii,  iv;   Ixtlilxochitl,   Historia   Chichimeca, 
I.   i,  ii;   Anales  de   Cuauhtitlan,  pp.  17-23;   Mendieta,  II.  v;   and 
Explication  del  Codex   Telleriano-Remensis  (Kingsborough,  v).     For 
later  discussions  see  Leon  de  Rosny,  "Le  Mythe  de  Quetzalcoatl,"  in 
Archives  de  la  societe  des  americanistes  de  France  (Paris,  1878);  Seler 
[a],  iii,  "Ueber  die  natiirlichen  Grundlagen  mexikanischer  Mythen"; 
[b],  pp.  41-48  (p.  45  here  quoted);  and  Joyce  [b],  pp.  46-51.   Dupli- 
cates or  analogues  of  Quetzalcoatl  are  described  in  Mythology  of  All 
Races,  Boston,  1916,  x,  Ch.  IX,  iii,  v;  Ch.  XI,  ii  (p.  243);  and  infra, 
Ch.  IV,  ii;  Ch.  V,  iv;  Ch.  VI,  iv;  Ch.  VII,  iv;  Ch.  VIII,  ii. 

15.  For  Tlaloc  see  especially  Seler  [a],  iii.  100-03;  [b],  pp.  62-67; 
Sahagun,  I.  iv,  xxi;  II.  i,  iii,  xx  (quoted),  and  Appendix,  where  is 
given  the  description  of  the  curious  octennial  festival  in  which  the 
rain-gods  were  honoured  with  a  dance  at  which  live  frogs  and  snakes 


356  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

were  eaten;  the  feast  was  accompanied  by  a  fast  viewed  as  a  means 
of  permitting  the  deities  to  resuscitate  their  food-creating  energies, 
which  were  regarded  as  overworked  or  exhausted  by  their  eight  years' 
labour.  See  also  Historia  de  los  Mexicanos  por  sus  Pinturas,  chh.  ii, 
vi;  and  Hamy  [b].  References  to  Chalchiuhtlicue  will  be  found 
in  Seler  [a],  index;  [b],  pp.  56-58;  etc.  The  ritual  prayer  is  recorded 
by  Sahagun,  VI.  xxxii. 

1 6.  Sahagun,  bk.  i;  Seler  [a],  index;  and  Robelo  [a],  are  guides  to 
the  analysis  and  grouping  of  the  Aztec  deities. 

17.  See  Seler  [d],  pp.  130-131. 

18.  Seler  [a],  ii.  1071-78,  and  CA  xiii.  171-74  (hymn  to  Xipe  Totec, 
here  freely  rendered).    See,  also,  Seler  [b],  pp.  100-104,  and  [a],  ii, 
"Die  religiosen  Gesange  der  alten  Mexikaner"  (cf.  Brinton  [d],  [e]), 
where  a  number  of  deities  are  characterized  by  translations  and 
studies  of  hymns  preserved  in  a  Sahagun  MS.   A  description  of  the 
Pawnee  form  of  the  arrow  sacrifice  will  be  found  in  Mythology  of  All 
Races,  Boston,  1916,  x.  76  (with  plate),  and  Note  58.    The  Aztec 
form  is  pictured  in  Codex  Nuttall,  No.  83,  as  is  also  the  famous 
sacrificio  gladiatorio  (as  the  Spaniards  called  it),  of  which  Duran, 
Album,  gives  several  drawings.   The  sacrificio  gladiatorio  was  appar- 
ently in  some  rites  a  first  stage  leading  to  the  arrow  sacrifice  (see 
Seler  [e],  i.  170—73,  where  several  figures  are  reproduced). 

19.  Tonacatecutli  is  treated  by  Seler  [d],  pp.  130  ff.    See  also, 
supra,  Ch.  II,  iii;  infra,  Ch.  Ill,  i. 

20.  Seler  [d],  p.  133;  and  for  discussion  of  Xochiquetzal,  Seler  [b], 
pp.  118-24. 

21.  Sahagun,  I.  vi,  xii.    Seler  [b],  pp.  92-100,  discusses  Tlazolteotl, 
on  p.  93  giving  the  story  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Huastec,  taken  from 
Ramirez,  Anales,  pp.  25—26. 

22.  The  conception  of  sacrifice  as  instituted  to  keep  the  world 
vivified,  and  especially  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  Sun,  appears  in  a 
number  of  documents,  particularly  in  connexion  with  cosmogony 
(see  Ch.  Ill,  i,  ii),  as  Sahagun,  III,  Appendix,  iv;  VI.  iii;  VII.  ii; 
Explicacion  del  Codex  Telleriano-Remensis  (Kingsborough,  v.  135); 
and  especially  in  the  Historia  de  los  Mexicanos  por  sus  Pinturas;  see 
also  Payne,  i.  577-82;  Seler  [a],  iii.  285;  [b],  pp.  37-41;  "Die  Sage  von 
Quetzalcouatl,"  in  CA  xvi  (Vienna,  1910). 

23.  Sahagun,  III,  Appendix,  i  (quoted);  cf.  Seler  [b],  pp.  82-86. 
See  also  Sahagun,  loc.  cit.,  ch.  ii,  for  a  description  of  Tlalocan,  and 
ch.  iii.  for  a  description  of  the  celestial  paradise  (cf.  I.  x  and  VI.  xxix). 

24.  The  meaning  of  Tamoanchan  is  discussed  by  Preuss,  "Feuer- 
gotter,"  who  regards  it  as  an  underworld  region;  by  Beyer,  in  Anthro- 
pos,  iii,  who  explains  it  as  the  Milky  Way;  and  by  Seler  [a],  ii,  "Die 
religiosen  Gesange  der  alten  Mexikaner,"  and  [e]  (see  index),  who 


NOTES  357 

identifies  it  with  the  western  region,  the  house  of  the  evening  sun. 
Xolotl  is  discussed,  in  the  same  connexions,  by  Seler;  see  especially 
[b],  pp.  108-12.  The  myth  from  Sahagun  is  in  VII.  ii;  those  from 
Mendieta  in  II.  i,  ii. 

25.  The  limbo  of  children's  souls  is  described  in  the  Spiegazione 
delle  tavole  del  Codice  Mexicano  (here  quoting  Kingsborough,  vi.  171). 

CHAPTER  III 

1.  Mexican  cosmogonies  are  discussed  by  Robelo  [a],  art.  "Cos- 
mogonia,"  in  AnMM,  2a   epoca,  iii;   Bancroft,  III.  ii  (full  biblio- 
graphical notes);  R.  H.  Lowie,  art.  "Cosmogony  and  Cosmology 
(Mexican  and   South  American),"   in  ERE;   Briihl,   pp.   398-401; 
Brinton  [a],  vii;  Charency  [a];  Miiller,  pp.  510—12;  Spence  [b],  iii. 
A  literary  version  of  some  of  the  old  cosmogonic  stories  is  given  by 
Castellanos  [b]. 

2.  Herrera,  III.  iii.  10  (quoted  by  Leon,  in  AnMM,  2a  epoca,  i. 

395)- 

3.  Mixtec  and  Zapotec  myth  are  studied  by  Seler,  28  BBE,  pp. 
285-305  (pp.  289,  286  are  here  quoted) ;  the  source  cited  for  the  Mixtec 
myth  is  Gregorio  Garcia,  Origen  de  los  Indios,  V.  iv;  for  Zapotec, 
Juan  de  Cordoba,  Arte  del  Idioma  Zapoteca. 

4.  Sahagun,  VI.  vii,  with  reference  to  the  Chichimec  (elsewhere 
he  speaks  of  Mixcoatl  as  an  Otomian  god);  X.  xxix.  i,  with  reference 
to  the  Toltec;  III.  i,  ii,  and  VII.  ii,  with  reference  to  the  origin  of 
the  sun,  etc. 

5.  Seler  [b],  p.  38. 

6.  Mendieta  (after  Fray  Andres  de  Olmos),  II.  i-iv. 

7.  The  fullest  versions  of  the  Mexican  cosmic  ages,  or  "Suns,"  are: 
(a)  Ixtlilxochitl  (Historia   Chichimeca,  I.  i;   Relaciones,  ed.  Kings- 
borough,  ix.  321  ff.,  459);  (b)  Historia  de  los  Mexicanos  por  sus  Pin- 
turas,   i-viii  —  the    narrative    which   most    resembles    a   primitive 
myth;  (c)  Anales  de  Cuauhtitlan  (ed.  Ramirez,  pp.  9-11),  partly 
translated  into  French  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  i.  Appendice, 
pp.  425-27,  where  the  version  of  the  deluge  myth  is  given;  (d)  Spie- 
gazione delle  tavole  del  Codice  Mexicano  (i.  e.  Codex  Vaticanus  A), 
where  Plates  VII-X  are  described  as  symbols  of  the  Suns;  though  a 
discordant  explanation  is  given  in  connexion  with  Plate  V.    Other 
authorities  are  Gomara  [b],  p.  431;  Muiioz  Camargo,  p.  132;  Hum- 
boldt  [a],  ii,  Plate  XXVI;  and  especially  Charency  [a],  who  makes  a 
comparative  study  of  the  myth.    Monumental  evidences  are  discussed 
by  Seler  [a],  ii, "  Die  Ausgrabungen  am  Orte  des  Haupttempels  in  Mex- 
ico," and  by  MacCurdy  [a].   Maya  forms  of  the  myth  are  sketched 
infra,  pp.  i53~5S;  cf.  pp.  159  #• 


358  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

8.  The  Spiegazione  contains  the  description  of  the  deluge  (Kings- 
borough,  vi.  195-96),  chiefly  in  connexion  with  Plate  XVI.     Similar 
material,  briefly  treated,  is  in  the  Explication  del  Codex  Telleriano- 
Remensis. 

9.  The  literature  dealing  with  the  Mexican  calendar  is  voluminous. 
Summary  treatments  of  the  subject,  based  on  recent  studies,  are  to 
be  found  in  Beuchat,  II.  i.  5;  Joyce  [b],  iii.;  Preuss,  art.  "Calendar 
(Mexican  and  Mayan),"  in  ERE.  The  primary  sources  for  knowledge 
of  the  calendar  are  three:  (i)  writings  of  the  early  chroniclers,  among 
whom  the  most  noteworthy  are  Sahagun,  books  ii,  iv,  vii,  and  Leon 
y  Gama,  who  derives  in  part  from  Cristobal  del  Castillo;  (2)  calendric 
codices,  the  more  important  being  Codex  Borgia,  studied  by  Fabrega, 
in  AnMM  v,  and  by  Seler  [a],  i,  and  [e];  Codex  Borbonicus,  studied 
by  Hamy  [a],  and  de  Jonghe;  Codex  Vaticanus  B  (3773),  studied  by 
Seler  [d];  Codex  Fejervary-Mayer,  studied  by  Seler  [c];  Codex  Bologna 
(or  Cospianus),  studied  by  Seler  [a],  i;   Codex  Nuttall,  studied  by 
Nuttall;  and  the  Tonalamatl  of  the  Aubin  Collection,  studied  by  Seler 
[b];  (3)  monuments,  especially  calendar  stones:  Leon  y  Gama,  Dos 
Piedras;  Chavero  [a];  MacCurdy  [a];  and  Robelo  [b]  are  studies  of 
such  monuments.    Recent  investigations  of  importance,  in  addition 
to  papers  by  Seler  ([a]  and  elsewhere),  are  Z.  Nuttall,  "The  Periodical 
Adjustments  of  the  Ancient  Mexican  Calendar,"  in  AA^  new  series, 
vi  (1904),  and  Preuss,  "Kosmische  Hieroglyphen  der  Mexikaner," 
in  ZE  xxxiii  (1901).    Studies  of  the  Maya  calendar  (especially  the 
important  contributions  of  Forstemann,  in  28  BBE)  and  of  that  of 
the  Zapotec  (Seler,  "The  Mexican  Chronology,  with  Special  Refer- 
ence to  the  Zapotec  Calendar,"  ib.)  are,  of  course,  intimately  related 
to  the  Aztec  system.    For  statement  of  current  problems,  see  Leh- 
mann  [a],  pp.  164-66. 

10.  For  Mexican  astronomy,  in  addition  to  the  studies  of  the 
codices,  see  Sahagun,  bk.  vii;  Tezozomoc,  Ixxxii;  Seler,  28  BSE,  "The 
Venus  Period  in  the  Picture  Writings  of  the  Borgian  Codex  Group" 
(tr.  from  art.  in  Berliner  Gesellschaft  fur  Anthropologie,  Ethnologie  und 
Urgeschichte,   1898);  Hagar  [a],   [b];  Chavero  [b];  and  Nuttall   [a], 
especially  pp.  245-59.   On  the  question  of  the  zodiac,  advocated  by 
Hagar,  see  H.  J.  Spinden,  "The  Question  of  the  Zodiac  in  America," 
in  AA,  new  series,  xviii  (1916),  and  the  bibliography  there  given. 

11.  Accounts  of  the  archaeology  of  Tollan,  or  Tula,  are  to  be  found 
in  Charnay  [a],  iv-vi,  and  in  Joyce  [b],  especially  in  the  Appendix. 
Sahagun's  description  of  the  Toltec  is  in  X.  xxix.  i.  The  Spiegazione 
of  Codex  Vaticanus  A,  Plate  X,  gives  interesting  additions   (here 
quoted  from  Kingsborough,  vi.  178).    The  chief  authority,  however, 
is  Ixtlilxochitl,  whose  accounts  of  the  Toltec,  Chichimec,  and  espe- 
cially Tezcucan  powers  have  frequently  been  regarded  with  sus- 


NOTES  359 

picion,  as  coloured  by  too  free  a  fancy.  Nevertheless,  as  Lehmann 
points  out  ([a],  p.  121),  it  is  certain  that  Ixtlilxochitl  had  at  his  com- 
mand sources  now  lost.  Much  of  his  material  is  clearly  in  a  native 
vein,  and  there  is  no  impossibility  that  it  is  a  version  of  history  which 
is  only  slightly  exalted. 

12.  Spanish  and  French  versions  of  the  elegy  of  Nezahualcoyotl 
(here  rather  freely  adapted)  are  in  TC  xiv.  368-73. 

13.  The  Aztec  migration  is  a  conspicuous  feature  of  native  tradi- 
tion, and  is,  therefore,  prominent  in  the  histories,  being  figured  by 
several  of  the  codices,  as  well  as  in  Duran's  Album.  An  early  narra- 
tion of  the  Aztec  myth  forms  chh.  ix  ff.  of  the  Historia  de  los  Mexi- 
canos  por  sus  Pinturas,  while  the  Historia  de  los  Reynos  de  Colhuacan 
y  de  Mexico,  the  narrative  of  the  "Anonimo  Mexicano,"  and  Tezo- 
zomoc,  i-iii,  give  other  native  versions.    Mendieta,   Sahagun,   and 
Duran,  are  other  sources  for  the  myth.    Seler  [a],  ii,  "Wo  lag  Aztlan, 
die  Heimat  der  Azteken?"  gives  a  careful  study  of  the  mythical  ele- 
ments in  the  migration-story  as  displayed  in  the  Codex  Boturini  and 
elsewhere.    Orozco  y  Berra  [a],  iv,  presents  a  comparative  study  of 
the  Aztec  rulers,  drawn  from  the  various  accounts.    Buelna's  Pere- 
grination is  generally  regarded  as  the  completest  study  of  the  migra- 
tion from  both  legendary  and  archaeological  evidence.    Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  [a],  VI.  iv,  contains  an  account  of  the  Aztlan  myth,  while 
VII  sketches  the  development  of  Nahuatlan  power  in  Tezcuco  and 
Mexico;  in  ii.  598-602,  the  Abbe  gives  his  chronological  restoration 
of  the  history  of  Anahuac.   Motezuma's  Corona  Mexicana  should  be 
mentioned  as  a  partly  native  source  for  the  records  of  the  Aztec 
monarchs;  while  Chimalpahin  represents  not  only  a  native  record, 
but  one  composed  in  the  native  tongue. 

14.  Mendieta,  II.  xxxiii-xxxiv. 

15.  Sahagun,  X.  xxix.  12. 

1 6.  Best   known  is   the   Codex  Boturini   (reproduced  in  Kings- 
borough,  i;  see  also  Garcia  Cubas  [b],  where  Codex  Boturini  is  com- 
pared with  a  supplementary  historical  painting;  interesting  repro- 
ductions of  related  Acolhua  paintings,  the  "Mappe  Tlotzin"  and  the 
"Mappe  Quinatzin,"  are  in  Aubin  [a]). 

17.  Duran,  xxvii. 

1 8.  Accounts  of  the  portents  that  preceded  the  coming  of  Cortez 
are  conspicuous  in  nearly  all  the  early  narratives;  among  them 
Acosta,  VI.   xxii;   Clavigero,  V.  xii,   etc.;   Chimalpahin,  "Septieme 
relation";  Duran,  Ixi,  Ixiii,  etc.;  Ixtlilxochitl,  Historia  Chichimeca, 
II.  Ixxii;  Sahagun,  XII.  i;  Tezozomoc,  xcvii;  Torquemada,  III.  xci. 

19.  The  Papago  myth  is  given  by  Bancroft,  III.  ii  (after  Davidson, 
Report  on  Indian  Affairs  [Washington,  1865],  pp.  131-33);  cf.  Lum- 
holtz  [c],  p.  42. 


360  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

20.  For    identification   of   the    Nicaraguan    divinities    (originally 
described  by  Oviedo)  see  Seler  [a],  ii.  1029-30.    Phases  of  contem- 
porary pagan  myth  in  Mexico  are  treated  by  Lumholtz    (passim), 
Preuss,  Mechling  [a],  Mason,  and  Radin.    Interesting  ritualistic  anal- 
ogies are  suggested  by  Fewkes,  Evans,  Genin,  Nuttall,  and  Preuss. 

21.  Preuss  [a],  [b],  and  Lumholtz  [b],  I.  xxix. 

22.  Preuss,  "Die  magische  Denkweise  der  Cora-Indianer,"  in  CA 
xviii  (London,  1913),  pp.  129-34. 

23.  Seler  [a],  iii.  376,  regards  the  Huichol  Tamats  as  the  Morning 
Star,  which  is  certainly  plausible  in  view  of  his  similarity  to  Chuvalete 
of  the  Cora.   Huichol  myth  and  deities  are  described  by  Lumholtz 
[a],  ii  (p.  12  here  quoted);  [b],  II.  ix;  cf.,  also,  Preuss. 

24.  Lumholtz  [b],  i.  356. 

CHAPTER  IV 

1.  The  physiography  and  ethnography  of  the  Maya  region  are 
summarized  in  Spinden  [a];  Beuchat,  II,  ii;  and  in  Joyce  [b],  ch.  viii. 
Wissler,  The  American  Indian  in  this,  as  in  other  fields,  most  effec- 
tively presents  the  relations  —  ethnical,  cultural,  historical  —  to  the 
other  American  groups.    Recent  special  studies  of  importance  are 
Tozzer  [a];  Starr,  In  Indian  Mexico,  etc.;  Sapper  [b];  and  the  more 
distinctively  archaeological  studies  of  Holmes,  Morley,  Spinden,  and 
others. 

2.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  region  of  Maya  culture  was  the  sub- 
ject of  no  such  full  reports,  dating  from  the  immediate  post-Conquest 
period,  as  we  possess  from  Mexico.    The  more  important  of  the 
Spanish  writers  who  deal  with  the  Yucatec  centres  are  Aguilar, 
Cogolludo,  Las  Casas,  Landa,  Lizana,  Nunez  de  la  Vega,  Ordonez  y 
Aguiar,  Pio  Perez,  Pedro  Ponce,  and  Villagutierre,  with  Landa  easily 
first  in  significance.   The  histories  of  Eligio  Ancona  and  of  Carrillo  y 
Ancona  are  the  leading  Spanish  works  of  later  date.  Native  writings 
are  represented  by  three  hieroglyphic  pre-Cortezian  codices,  namely, 
Codex  Dresdensis,  Codex  Tro-Cortesianus,  and  Codex  Peresianus, 
as  well  as  by  the  important  Books  of  Chilam  Balam  and  the  Chronicle 
of  Nakuk  Pech  from  the  early  Spanish  period  (for  description  of 
thirteen  manuscripts  and  bibliography  of  published  works  relating 
to  their  interpretation,  see  Tozzer,  "The  Chilam  Balam  Books,"  in 
CA  xix  [Washington,  1917]).    Yet  what  Mayan  civilization  lacks  in 
the  way  of  literary  monuments  is  more  than  compensated  by  the 
remains  of  its  art  and  architecture,  to  which  an  immense  amount  of 
shrewd  study  has  been  devoted.    The  more  conspicuous  names  of 
those  who  have  advanced  this  study  are  mentioned  in  connexion  with 
the  literature  of  the  Maya  calendar,  Note  22,  infra.    The  region  has 


NOTES  361 

been  explored  archaeologically  with  great  care,  the  magnificent  re- 
ports of  Maudsley  (in  Biologia  Centrali-Americana)  and  of  the  Pea- 
body  Museum  expeditions  (Memoirs},  prepared  by  Gordon,  Maler, 
Thompson,  and  others,  being  the  collections  of  eminence.  Brasseur 
de  Bourbourg  can  scarcely  be  mentioned  too  often  in  connexion  with 
this  field.  His  fault  is  that  of  Euhemerus,  but  he  is  neither  the  first  nor 
the  last  of  the  tribe  of  this  sage;  while  for  his  virtues,  he  shows  more 
constructive  imagination  than  any  other  Americanist:  probably  the 
picture  which  he  presents  would  be  less  criticized  were  it  less  vivid. 

3.  Landa,  chh.  v-xi  (vi,  ix,  being  here  quoted). 

4.  The  sources  for  the  history  of  the  Maya  are  primarily  the  native 
chronicles  (the  Books  of  Chilam  Balam),  the  Relaciones  de  Yucatan, 
and  the  histories  of  Cogolludo,  Landa,  Lizana,  and  Villagutierre. 
The  deciphering  of  the  monumental  dates  of  the  southern  centres 
has  furnished  an  additional  group  of  facts,  the  correlation  of  which 
to  the  history  of  the  north  has  become  a  special  problem,  with  its  own 
literature.  The  most  important  attempts  to  synchronize  Maya  dates 
with  the  years  of  our  era  are  by  Pio  Perez  (reproduced  both  by 
Stephens  [b]  and  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [b]);  Seler  [a],  i,  "Bedeu- 
tung  des  Maya-Kalenders  fur  die  historische  Chronologic";  Good- 
man [a],  [b];  Bowditch  [a];  Spinden  [a],  pp.  130-35;  [b]  (with  chart); 
Joyce  [b],  Appendix  iii  (with  chart);  and  Morley  [a],  [b],  [c]  and  [d]. 
Bowditch,  Spinden,  Joyce,  and  Morley  are  not  radically  divergent 
and  may  be  regarded  as  representing  the  conservative  view  —  here 
accepted  as  obviously  the  plausible  one.    Carrillo  y  Ancona,  ch.  ii, 
analyzes  some  of  the  earlier  opinions;  while  the  first  part  of  Ancona's 
Historia  de  Yucatan  is  devoted  to  ancient  Yucatec  history  and  is 
doubtless  the  best  general  work  on  the  subject. 

5.  Brinton  [f],  p.  100  ("Introduction"  to  the  Book  of  Chilan  Balam 
of  Mani). 

6.  Spinden  [b];  Joyce  [b],  ch.  viii.   But  cf.  Morley's  chronological 
scheme,  infra;  and  Spinden  [a],  pp.  130—35. 

7.  Morley  [c],  ch.  i. 

8.  Morley  [b],  p.  140.    In  this  connection  (p.  144)  Morley  sum- 
marizes the  various  speculations  as  to  the  causes  which  led  to  the 
abandonment  of  the  southern  centres,  as  reduction  of  the  land  by 
primitive  agricultural  methods  (Cook),  climatic  changes  (Hunting- 
ton),  physical,  moral  and  political  decadence  (Spinden).    He  adds: 
"Probably  the  decline  of  civilization  in  the  south  was  not  due  to  any 
one  of  these  factors  operating  singly,  but  to  a  combination  of  adverse 
influences,  before  which  the  Maya  finally  gave  way." 

9.  The  culture  heroes  of  Maya  myth  have  taken  possession  of 
the  imaginations  of  the  Spanish  chroniclers,  and  indeed  of  not  a  few 
later  commentators,  rather  as  clues  to  native  history  than  to  myth- 


362  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ology.  Bancroft,  iii.  450-55,  461-67,  summarizes  the  materials  from 
Spanish  sources;  which  is  treated  also,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
possible  historical  elucidation,  by  Ancona,  I.  iii;  Carrillo  y  Ancona, 
ii,  iii;  Comte  de  Charency  [b];  Garcia  Cubas,  in  SocAA  xxx,  nos. 
3-6;  and  Santibaiiez,  in  CA  xvii.  2. 

10.  The  primary   sources   for  the  Votan   stories   are   Cogolludo, 
Ordonez  y  Aguiar,   and  Nunez  de  la  Vega,  whose  narratives  are 
liberally  summarized    by  Brasseur  de   Bourbourg   [a],  I.  i,  ii  (pp. 
68—72  containing  the  passages  from  Ordonez  here  quoted). 

11.  For  Zamna  (or  Itzamna)  the  sources  are  Cogolludo,  Landa, 
and  Lizana,  summarized  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  I.  pp.  76-80. 
Quotations  are  here  made  from  Cogolludo,  IV.  iii,  vi;  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  [f],  ii,  "Vocabulaire  generale";  and  Lizana  (ed.  Brasseur 
de  Bourbourg),  pp.  356-59;  cf.  also  Seler  [a],  index;  Landa,  chh. 
xxxv,  xxxvi. 

12.  Identifications  of  images  of  Itzamna  and  Kukulcan  are  dis- 
cussed by  Dieseldorff,  in  ZE  xxvii.  770—83;  Spinden  [a],  pp.  60—70; 
Joyce  [b],  ch.  ix,  and  Morley  [c],  pp.  16-19. 

13.  Cogolludo,  Landa,  and  Lizana  are  the  chief  sources  for  the 
Kukulcan  stories,  —  especially  Landa,  chh.  vi,  xl,  being  here  quoted. 
Tozzer  [a],  p.  96,  is  quoted;  cf.,  for  Yucatec  survival,  p.  157. 

14.  Citations  from  Landa  in  this  section  are  from  chh.  xxvii,  xl 
(which  records  the  new  year's  festivals),  xxxiii  (describing  the  future 
world),  and  xxxiv.    Landa  is  our  chief  source  for  knowledge  of  the 
Yucatec  rites  and  of  the  deities  associated  with  them;  additional  or 
corroborative  details  being  furnished  by  Aguilar,  Cogolludo,  Lizana, 
Las  Casas,  Ponce,  and  Pio  Perez. 

15.  Interpretations  of  the  names  of  the  Maya  deities,  as  here 
given,  are  from  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [f],  ii,  "Vocabulaire";  and 
Seler  [a],  index. 

16.  Lizana  (ed.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg),  pp.  360—61. 

17.  Schellhas  [b]  gives  his  identifications  and  descriptions  of  the 
gods  of  the  codices;  additional  materials  are  contained  in  Fewkes 
{i];  Forstemann  [b];  Joyce  [b],  ch.  ix;  Morley  [c],  pp.  16-19;  Spinden 
[b],  pp.  60-70;  and  Bancroft,  iii,  ch.  xi. 

1 8.  Tozzer  [a],  pp.  150  ff.;  also,  for  the  Lacandones,  pp.  93-99. 
The  names  of  the  deities,  Maya  and  Lacandone,  are  here  in  several 
cases  altered  slightly  from  the  form  in  which  Tozzer  gives  them,  for 
the  sake  of  avoiding  the  use  of  unfamiliar  phonetic  symbols;  the 
result  is,  of  course,  phonetic  approximation  only. 

19.  Landa,  chh.  xxvi,  xxvii. 

20.  Las  Casas  [b],  ch.  cxxiii. 

21.  Landa,  ch.  xxxiv.    In  chh.  iii,  xxxii,  he  gives  information  in 
regard  to  the  goddess  Ixchel. 


NOTES  363 

22.  The  literature  of  the  Maya  calendar  system  is,  of  course,  inti- 
mately connected  with  that  of  the  Mexican  (see  Note  9,  Chapter  III). 
The  native  sources  for  its  study  are  the  Codices  and  the  monumental 
inscriptions,  while  of  early  Spanish  expositions  the  most  important 
are  those  of  Landa  and  Pio  Perez.    In  recent  times  a  considerable  body 
of  scholars  have  devoted  special  attention  to  the  Maya  inscriptions 
and  to  the  elucidation  of  the  calendar,  foremost  among  them  being, 
in  America,  Ancona,  Bowditch,  Chavero,  Goodman,  Morley,  Spinden, 
Cyrus  Thomas,  and  in  Europe,  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  Forstemann, 
Rosny,  and  Seler.    The  foundation  of  the  elucidation  of  Maya  as- 
tronomical knowledge  is  Forstemann's  studies  of  the  Dresden  Codex, 
while  the  study  of  mythic  elements  associated  with  the  calendar  is 
represented  by  Charency,  especially  "Des  ages  ou  soleils  d'apres  la 
mythologie  des  peuples  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,"  section  ii,  in  CA 
iv.  2;  and  by  J.  H.  Martinez,  "Los  Grandes  Ciclos  de  la  historia 
Maya,"  in  CA  xvii.  2.   Summary  accounts  of  the  Maya  calendar  are 
to  be  found  in  Spinden  [a],  Beuchat,  Joyce  [b],  Arnold,  and  Frost, 
while  Bowditch  [b]  and  Morley  [c]  are  in  the  nature  of  text-book 
introductions  to  the  subject. 

23.  Morley  [d],  "The  Hotun,"  in  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917). 

24.  Morley  [c],  p.  32. 

25.  Tozzer  [a],  pp.  153-54. 

26.  J.  Martinez  Hernandez,  "La  Creadon  del  Mundo  segun  los 
Mayas,"  in  CA  xviii  (London,  1913),  pp.  164-71.    Senor  Hernandez 
notes  that  the  tense  of  the  verb  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  myth  is 
for  the  sake  of  literal  translation. 

CHAPTER  V 

1.  For  ethnic  analysis  Thomas  and  Swanton  is  followed  here  and 
throughout  the  chapter.    Of  the  earlier  Spanish  authors  Las  Casas 
(especially    [b],   chh.    cxxii-cxxv,    clxxx,    ccxxxiv   ff.)    is    the    most 
weighty.   See  also  Morley  [e],  "The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Maya  Civil- 
izations," in  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917). 

2.  Brinton  [h],  p.  69. 

3.  ib.  p.  149. 

4.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  pp.  Ixxx-lxxxiii. 

5.  The  Popul  F~uh,  described  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  in  his 
Histoire  du  Mexique  under  the  title  Manuscrit  Quiche  de  Chichi- 
castenango  ([a],  i.  pp.  Ixxx  ff.),  is  a  Quiche  document,  part  myth  and 
part  legendary  history,  supposed  to  have  been  put  in  writing  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  it  was  copied  and  translated  into  Spanish 
by  Francisco  Ximenes,  of  the  Order  of  Predicadores.    The  manu- 
script was  found  by  C.  Scherzer  in  1855  in  the  library  of  the  uni- 


364  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

versity  of  San  Carlos,  Guatemala.  The  Spanish  text  of  Ximenes  was 
published  at  Vienna  in  1856,  and  again,  with  French  translation  and 
notes,  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  Paris,  1861;  a  second  Spanish  ver- 
sion, by  Barberena,  appeared  in  San  Salvador,  1905.  None  of  these 
translations  is  regarded  as  accurate,  or  indeed  as  other  than  filled 
with  error  and  misinterpretation;  but  pending  the  appearance  of  a 
scholarly  rendering  from  the  native  text  they  are  our  only  sources 
for  a  document  of  profound  interest.  The  edition  of  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  is  that  here  employed,  translations  being  from  parts  i,  ii, 
and  iii,  while  interpretations  of  names  are  drawn  chiefly  from  Bras- 
seur's  footnotes.  Las  Casas  [b],  ch.  cxxiv,  contains  some  account 
of  the  gods  and  heroes  mentioned  in  the  Popul  Fuh. 

6.  For  discussion  of  the  bat-god,  Zotz,  see  Seler,  28  BSE,  pp. 
231  ff.,  "The  Bat  God  of  the  Maya  Race";  also,  Dieseldorff,  ib.,  p. 
665,  "A  Clay  Vessel  with  a  Picture  of  a  Vampire-headed  Deity"; 
cf.  Giglioli,  CA  xvi  (Vienna  and  Leipzig,  1910). 

7.  The  Manuscrit  Cakchiquel,  or  Memorial  de  Tecpan-Atitlan,  as 
he  calls  it,  was  given  to  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  by  Juan  Gavarrete, 
of  the  Convent  of  Franciscans  of  Guatemala.    Its  author,  says  the 
Abbe  ([a],  i.  p.  Ixxxiii)  was  Don  Francisco  Ernandez  Arana  Xahila,  of 
the  Princes  Ahpotzotziles  of  Guatemala,  grandson  of  King  Hunyg, 
who  died  of  the  plague,  five  years  before  the  Spaniards  set  foot  in 
this  country,  in  1519.  The  manuscript  was  brought  down  to  1582  by 
this  author,  and  thence  carried  forward  to  1597  by  Don  Francisco 
Diaz  Gebuta  Queh,  of  the  same  family.   Brinton  published  his  trans- 
lation under  the  title,  The  Annals  of  the  Cakchiquels,  in  Philadelphia, 
1885,  and  the  work  now  commonly  is  referred  to  under  this  name. 
It  is  Brinton's  version  which  is  here  followed,  with  some  inconse- 
quential alterations  of  phraseology.    In  his   introduction   Brinton 
gives  (pp.  39-48)  interesting  comments  on  the  "Religious  Notions." 

8.  Brinton  [h],  pp.  25-26. 

9.  ib.  p.  14. 

10.  Of  works  dealing  with  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  natives  of 
Honduras  and  Nicaragua,  the  writings  of  Oviedo  and  of  Las  Casas 
(especially  [b],  ch.  clxxx)  are  the  most  important  of  early  date. 
Among  works  of  later  date  Squier's  books  are  of  the  first  significance. 
Bancroft,  iii,  ch.  xi,  gives  a  summary  of  most  that  is  known  of  the 
myths  of  this  region;  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  livre  v,  ch.  iii, 
livre  viii,  ch.  iv,  contains  additional  materials.  The  archaeology  is 
described  by  Squier  [a],  [b],  [c],  passim;  Joyce  [a],  part  i;  Brinton  [h], 
introduction;  and,  with  ethnological  analysis,  Lehmann  [c]. 

n.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  [a],  ii.  p.  556.  The  Mictlan  myth  is 
given,  ib.  p.  105. 

12.  Oviedo,  TC  xiv,  p.  133. 


NOTES  365 

13.  Lehmann  [c],  p.  717. 

14.  See  Lehmann  [c],  pp.  715-16. 

CHAPTER  VI 

I.  The  ethnology  of  the  Andean  region  is  treated  by  Joyce  [c], 
Wissler,  The  American  Indian,  and  Beuchat,  II.  iv.  Bastian,  Cultur- 
Idnder,  and  Payne,  History,  give  more  extended  views;  while  tribal 
distribution  in  its  cultural  relations  is  probably  best  presented  by 
Schmidt,  in  ZE  xlv.  Spinden,  "The  Origin  and  Distribution  of 
Agriculture  in  America,"  and  Means,  "An  Outline  of  the  Culture- 
Sequence  in  the  Andean  Area,"  both  in  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917), 
are  significant  contributions  to  the  problem  of  origins  and  history; 
with  these  should  be  placed,  "Origenes  Etnograficos  de  Colombia," 
by  Carlos  Cuervo  Marquez,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Pan 
American  Scientific  Congress,  i  (Washington,  1917).  Spinden  con- 
ceives an  archaic  American  culture,  probably  originating  in  Mexico 
and  thence  spreading  north  and  south,  which  was  based  upon  agri- 
culture and  characterized  by  the  use  of  pottery,  textiles,  etc.,  and 
which,  in  the  course  of  time,  made  its  influence  felt  from  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  that  of  La  Plata.  This  hypothesis  admirably 
accounts  for  the  obvious  affinities  of  the  civilizations  of  the  two 
continents. 

2.  The  linguistic  and  cultural  affinities  of  the  Isthmian  tribes  are 
described  by  Wissler,  Beuchat,  Joyce  [c],  and  Thomas  and  Swanton; 
and  on  the  archaeological  side  especially  by  Hartman  [a],  [b],  and 
Holmes  [c],  [d].    For  the  broader  analogies  of  the  Central  American, 
North  Andean,  and  Antillean  regions  see  also  Saville,  Cuervo  Mar- 
quez, and  Spinden's  article  mentioned  in  Note  I,  supra,    Spinden, 
Maya  Art  (MPM),  argues  against  the  conception  of  extensive  bor- 
rowing.  Of  the  earlier  authorities  for  this  region,  the  important  are 
Peter  Martyr,  Benzoni,  Oviedo,  Herrera,  and  Las  Casas.    Among 
writers  of  later  times,  Humboldt  holds  first  place. 

3.  Oviedo  (TC),  pp.  211-22.    Other  references  in  this  paragraph 
are:  Benzoni  (HS),  ii;  Andagoya  (HS),  pp.  14-15;  Cieza  de  Leon 
(#S),  1864,  ch.  viii. 

4.  Peter  Martyr,  1912,  ii  (pp.  319,  326  quoted). 

5.  Gabb,  pp.  503-06;  Pittier  de  Fabrega  [b],  pp.  1-9;  Las  Casas 
[b],  ch.  cxxv. 

6.  The  most  recent  work,  summarizing  the  legend  of  El  Dorado, 
is  Zahm  [b];  and  the  earliest  versions  of  the  tale  are  those  of  Simon, 
Fresle,  Piedrahita,  Cavarjal,  and  Castellanos,  the  latter  of  whom 
incorporated  the  story  in  his  poetical  Elejias  de  Farones  Ilustres  de 
Indias,  which  was  printed  at  Madrid,  in  1850.    Critical  accounts,  in 
addition  to  Zahm,  are  Bollaert's  "Introduction"  to  Simon's  Expedi- 


366  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

tion  of  Pedro  de  Ursua  (Spanish  in  Serrano  y  Sanz,  Historiadores  de 
Indias,  ii)  and  in  Bandelier's  The  Gilded  Man.  On  the  historical  side, 
especially  as  regards  the  period  of  the  Conquest,  Andagoya,  Cas- 
tellanos,  Carvajal,  Fresle,  Simon,  give  unforgettable  pictures  of  the 
adventurous  extravagance  and  bizarrerie  of  a  time  scarcely  to  be 
paralleled  in  human  annals.  Father  Zahm's  Quest  of  El  Dorado  is  an 
inviting  introduction  to  this  literature. 

7.  For  Chibchan  ethnology  and  archaeology,  see  Joyce  [c],  Acosta 
de  Samper,  and  Cuervo  Marquez. 

8.  Cieza  de  Leon  (#S),  1864,  pp.  59,  88,  101. 

9.  The  primary  sources  for  the  mythology  of  the  Chibchan  tribes 
at   the  time  of   the  Conquest  are  Pedro  Simon,  Lucas  Fernandez 
Piedrahita  (especially  I,  iii,  iv),  and  Cieza  de  Leon.    Simon's  "Cuarta 
Noticia,"  in  eighteen  chapters,  is  the  fullest  exposition  of  Chibcha 
beliefs  and  history;  along  with  the  "Tercera  Noticia"  it  is  printed 
in  Kingsborough,  viii,  which  is  here  cited  (pp.  244,  263-64  quoted). 
Other  authorities  include  Humboldt,  Joyce  [c],  chh.  i,  ii;  Acosta  de 
Samper,  ch.  viii;  Sir  Clements  Markham,  art.  "Andeans,"  in  ERE; 
and  Beuchat,  pp.  549-50.   On  the  deluge  myth  see  also  Bandelier  [c]. 

10.  The  story  of  the  giants  is  given  by  Cieza  de  Leon  [a],  ch.  Hi; 
see  also  Velasco,  p.  12;  Bandelier  [b],  where  the  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject is  assembled;  and  Saville,  1907,  p.  9.    The  archaeology  of  the 
region,  with  numerous  plates,  is  presented  in  Saville's  reports;  ii. 
88-123    (I9I°)   contains  a  description  and  discussion  of  the  stone 
seats;  while  brief  accounts  are  to  be  found  in  Beuchat  and  in  Joyce  [c]. 

11.  Velasco  is  the  chief  authority  for  the  career  of  the  people  of 
Cara.   The  discoveries  of  Dorsey  on  the  island  of  La  Plata  give  an 
added  significance  to  these  tales  of  men  from  the  sea. 

12.  Balboa  (TC),  ch.  vii;  cf.  Joyce  [c],  ch.  iii. 

CHAPTER  VII 

I.  The  history  and  archaeology  of  aboriginal  Peru  is  summarized 
by  Markham,  The  Incas  of  Peru  (1910),  to  which  his  notes  and  in- 
troductions to  his  many  translations  of  Spanish  works,  published  by 
the  Hakluyt  Society,  form  a  varied  supplementation.  Among  earlier 
authorities  E.  G.  Squier,  Travel  and  Exploration  in  the  Land  of  the  In- 
cas (1877),  and  Castelnau,  Expedition  (1850-52),  are  eminent;  while 
of  later  authorities  the  more  conspicuous  are:  for  Inca  monuments, 
Bingham,  of  the  Yale  Expedition,  and  Baessler;  for  Tiahuanaco, 
Crequi-Montfort,  of  the  Mission  scientifique  francaise  a  Tiahuan- 
aco, Bandelier,  Gonzalez  de  la  Rosa,  Posnansky,  Uhle  and  Stiibel; 
for  the  coastal  regions,  Baessler,  Reiss  and  Stiibel,  Uhle,  Tello; 
and  for  the  Calchaqui  territories,  Ambrosetti,  Boman,  and  Lafone 
Quevado.  General  and  comparative  studies  are  presented  in  Wissler, 


NOTES 


367 


The  American  Indian;  Beuchat,  Manuel;  Joyce,  South  American 
Archeology;  Spinden,  Handbook;  while  a  careful  effort  to  restore  the 
sequences  of  cultures  in  Peru  is  Means,  "Outline  of  the  Culture- 
Sequence  in  the  Andean  Area,"  in  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917). 

2.  Cieza  de  Leon  [a],  ch.  xxxvi. 

3.  The  origin  of  agriculture  in  America  is  regarded  by  Spinden, 
"The  Origin  and  Distribution  of  Agriculture  in  America,"  CA  xix 
(Washington,  1917),  as  probably  Mexican.    From  Mexico  it  passed 
north  and  south,  reaching  its  limiting  areas  in  the  neighbourhoods  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  of  La  Plata.    Cf.  Wissler,  The  American  Indian. 

4.  Montesinos's  lists  are  analyzed  by  Markham  [a].    See,   also, 
Means;  cf.  Pietschmann. 

5.  Uhle,  especially  [a],  [c],  and  art.,  CA  xviii  (London,  1913),  "Die 
Muschelhiigel  von  Ancon,  Peru";  Bingham  [b],  [c]. 

6.  Means,  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917),  p.  237,  gives  as  the  general 
chronological  background  of  Peruvian  culture: 


1-circa  200  B.C. 
circa  200 B.C.— 600 A. D. 

"    600-1100  A.  D. 
"    I IOO-I53O  A.  D. 


Preliminary  migrations. 
Megalithic  Empire. 
Tampu-Tocco  Period,  decadence. 
Inca  Empire. 


He  also  gives  in  the  same  article,  p.  241,  a  most  interesting  com- 
parative restoration  of  the  chronologies  of  the  sequence  of  culture  in 
the  several  Peruvian  and  Mexican  centres,  namely: 


a 

CO 

1     ,      8      .      ?      .      I      .      1      .      I      ,      f      .      f 

OLD  MAY 

k  EMPIRE 

Archaic 

period      Ml 

Idle   Great 

NEW  MA> 

A.  EMPIRE 

(Colon  zation 

Transi 

rional 

League  of 
Mayapan 

Nahua  pe 
Decaden 

riod; 

ce 

QUITO  (EL< 

luador) 

The  Qi 

itu 

The 

Cara 

|l| 

TRUJILLO 

*Proro-Ch 

™      ^t" 

^Decad 

ent  forms  of  " 

ahuanacoArt 

Real  Chimu 

Inca 

FACHACAM/ 

kC             ? 

7   p     Tiahu 
pr< 

anacol      De 
per    |      Ris 

adence  of  " 
e  of   later 

iahuanaco  1 
Ve-lnca  foi 

orms  ; 
ms 

Inca 

NASCA 

"Proto-Nas< 

«      iTiahu 
*        1      pro 

anacol        D< 
ier              R 

cadence  of 
se  of  Pre-1 

Tiahuanac 
nca  forms 

:      \      ,„ 

"    1 

DIAGUITE 

Draconic 

n         Tiahu 

anacol    Dec 

idence  of  1 

ahuanaco. 

Calchaqui 

Inca  I 

... 

Tiahuar 

aco  or  Meg 

il  it-hie 

Tamp 

j  Tocco  per 

od              In 

a    Ernpir 

I 

TABLE  DESIGNED  TO  SHOW  THE  SEQUENCE  OF  ABORIGINAL  AMERICAN  CULTURES  AND  THEIR 
CHRONOLOGIC  RELATIONS 


368  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

7.  For  the  myths  and  religion  of  the  coastal  peoples  of  Peru  the 
important  early  authorities  are  Arriaga,  Avila,  Balboa,  Cieza  de 
Leon,  and  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.   Markham  [a],  especially  chh.  xiv, 
xv,  is  the  primary  authority  here  followed.    For  archaeological  de- 
tails the  authorities  are  Baessler;  Bastian;  Joyce  [c],  ch.  viii;  Squier 
[e];  Tello;  Putnam;  and  Uhle.   It  is  from  this  coastal  region  that  the 
most  striking  Peruvian  pottery  comes,  the  Truxillo  and  Nasca  styles 
respectively  typifying  the  Chimu  and  Chincha  groups. 

8.  Tello,  "Los  antiguos  cementerios  del  valle  de  Nasca,"  p.  287, 
suggests  three  criteria  by  means  of  which  the  mythological  nature 
of  such  figures  is  to  be  inferred:  When  symbolical  attributes  are 
indicated  by  the  animal's  carrying  mystical  or  thaumaturgical  ob- 
jects; when  the  figure  retains,  through  a  variety  of  representations, 
certain  constant,  individualizing  traits;  and  when  the  same  image  is 
used  repeatedly  on  the  more  notable  types  of  cultural  and  artistic 
objects.   Senor  Tello  believes  Nasca  religion  to  have  been  totemic  in 
character. 

9.  It  is  reproduced  by  Joyce  [c],  p.  155. 

10.  Garcilasso's   accounts   of  the   coastal   religion   are   scattered 
through  his  inchoate  work,  the  more  important  passages  being  bk.  ii, 
ch.  iv;  bk.  vi,  chh.  xvii,  xviii. 

11.  Summarized  by  Markham  [a],  p.  216. 

12.  Summarized  by  Markham  [a],  pp.  235-36. 

13.  Avila  [b]. 

14.  Avila's  Narrative  in  Rites  and  Laws  of  the  Yncas  (#S),  1883, 
pp.  121-47,  is  the  authority  for  the  myths  given  in  the  text;  but 
several  of  the  stories  appear  also  in  Molina,  Salcamayhua,  and  Sar- 
miento,  showing  that  the  mythic  cycle  was  widespread,  extending 
into  the  highlands  as  well  as  along  the  coast.  The  people  from  whom 
Avila  received  his  tales  were  of  a  tribe  that  had  migrated  from  the 
coast  to  higher  valleys. 

15.  The  Tiahuanaco  monolith  is  interpreted  by  Squier  [e],  ch.  xv; 
Markham  [a],  ch.  ii;   Gonzalez  de  la  Rosa,  "Les  deux  Tiahuanaco," 
CA  xvi  (1910);  and  by  Posnansky,  "El  signo  escalonado,"  CA  xviii 
(1913).   The  latter  regards  the  meander  design,  or  its  element,  the 
stair-design  in  its  various  forms,  as  a  symbol  of  the  earth;  and  he 
believes  Tiahuanaco  to  be  the  place  of  origin  of  this  symbol,  whence 
it  spread  northward  into  Mexico.   It  is,  of  course,  among  the  Pueblo 
Indians  of  the  United  States  an  earth-symbol.    If  this  be  the  correct 
interpretation,  the  central  figure  is  the  sun,  rising  or  standing  above 
the  earth.    Bandelier  [e]  gives  ancient  and  modern  myths  in  regard 
to  Titicaca  and  its  environs. 

1 6.  Representations  of  pottery  and  other  designs  from  the  Dia- 
guite  region  showing  the  influence  of  Tiahuanaco  and  possibly  Nasca 


NOTES 


369 


influence  are  to  be  found  in  the  publications  of  Ambrosetti,  Boman, 
Lafone  Quevado  and  others.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  is  the 
potsherd  showing  the  figure  of  a  deity  (?)  bearing  an  axe  with  a 
trident-like  handle,  while  near  him  is  what  seems  clearly  to  be  a 
representation  of  a  thunderbolt;  a  trophy  head  is  at  his  girdle. 


17.  Markham  [a],  pp.  41-42.    Caparo  y  Perez,  Proceedings  of  the 
Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress,  section  i,  pp.  121—22,  in- 
terprets the  name  "Uirakocha"  as  composed  of  uira,  "grease,"  and 
kocha,  "sea";  and,  since  grease  is  a  symbol  for  richness  and  the  sea 
for  greatness,  it  "signified  that  which  was  great  and  rich." 

18.  Molina  (Markham,  Rites  and  Laws),  p.  33. 

19.  Markham  [a],  ch.  viii;  another  version  is  given  by  Markham 
[c];  while  the  text  and  Spanish  translation  are  in  Lafone  Quevado  [a]. 
Cf.  the  fragments  from  Huaman  Poma  given  by  Pietschmann  [b], 
especially  the  prayer,  p.  512:  "Supreme  utmost  Huiracocha,  wherever 
thou  mayest  be,  whether  in  heaven,  whether  in  this  world,  whether 
in  the  world  beneath,  whether  in  the  utmost  world,  Greater  of  this 
world,  where  thou  mayest  be,  oh,  hear  me!" 

20.  Salcamayhua  (Markham,  Rites  and  Laws),  pp.  70—72. 

21.  Bandelier  [d],  [e],  especially  pp.  291-329. 

22.  Molina,  op.  cit.;  Cieza  de  Leon  [b],  ch.  v,  pp.  5-10;  Sarmiento, 
pp.  27-39;  and  f°r  summary  of  the  narrative  of  Huaman  Poma, 
Pietschmann,  CA  xviii  (London,  1913),  pp.  511-12. 


370  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

23.  Viracocha  and  Tonapa  obviously  belong  to  the  group,  or  chain, 
of  hero-deities  of  a  like  character,  extending  from  Peru  to  Mexico, 
and,  in  modified  forms,  far  to  the  north  and  far  to  the  south  of  each 
of  these  centres.  This  personage,  as  a  hero,  is  a  man,  bearded,  white, 
aided  by  a  magic  wand  or  staff,  who  brings  some  essential  element 
of  culture  and  departs;  as  a  god,  he  is  a  creator,  who  appeared  after 
the  barbaric  ages  of  the  world  and  introduced  a  new  age  (there  are 
exceptions  to  this,  as  the  narrative  of  Huaman  Poma) ;  further,  he  is  a 
deity  of  the  heavens,  the  plumed-  or  the  double-headed  serpent  is 
his  emblem,  perhaps  his  incarnation,  and  he  is  closely  associated 
with  the  sun,  which  seems  to  be  his  servant.    Is  it  not  entirely  pos- 
sible that  this  interesting  mythic  complex  is  historically  associated, 
in  its  spread,  with  the  spread  of  the  cultivation  of  maize  at  some 
early  period?    In  the  Navaho  representations  of  Hastsheyalti,  the 
white  god  of  the  east,  bearded  with  pollen,  and  himself  creator  and 
maize-god,  with  the  Yei  as  his  servants,  and  his  two  sons  (in  the  tale 
of  "The  Stricken  Twins")  genii  respectively  of  rain  (vegetation)  and 
of  animals  (see  Mythology  of  All  Races,  Boston,  1916,  x,  ch.  viii, 
sections  ii,  iv)  we  have  the  essential  attributes  of  this  deity  and  at 
the  same  time  an  image  of  his  probable  function,  as  sky-god  asso- 
ciated especially  with  the  whiteness  of  dawn,  with  rain-giving,  and 
hence  with  growing  corn.    The  staff,  which  is  the  conspicuous  at- 
tribute of  Tonapa  and  Bochica  in  particular,  may  well  bear  a  double 
significance:  in  the  hands  of  the  hero,  as  the  dibble  of  the  maize- 
planter;  in  the  hands  of  the  god,  as  the  lightning.   In  any  case,  there 
are  a  multitude  of  analogies,  not  only  in  the  myths,  but  also  in  the 
art-motives  and  symbolisms  of  the  group  of  tribes  which  extends  from 
the  Diaguite  to  the  North  American  Pueblo  regions  that  powerfully 
suggest  a  common  origin  of  the  ideas  which  centre  about  the  cult  of 
heaven  and  earth,  of  descending  rain  and  upspringing  maize.   Many 
partial  parallels  for  the  same  group  of  ideas  are  to  be  found  among 
the  less  advanced  tribes  of  the  plains  and  forest  regions  of  both  South 
and  North  America.    Possibly,  the  myth,  or  at  least  the  rites  upon 
which  it  rests,  accompanied  the  knowledge  of  agriculture  into  these 
regions. 

24.  Lafone  Quevado  [a],  p.  378. 

25.  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  bk.  i,  chh.  xv,  xvi.    The  myth  is  also 
given  by  Acosta,  bk.  i,  ch.  xxv;  bk.  vi,  ch.  xx;  by  Sarmiento,  chh. 
xi-xiv;  and  by  Salcamayhua  (Markham,  Rites  and  Laws),  pp.  74-75. 

26.  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  bk.   ii,  ch.  xviii;  bk.  viii,  ch.  viii;  cf. 
bk.  ix,  ch.  x. 

27.  Molina,  pp.  11-12. 

28.  The  Inca   pantheon  is  described   by  Markham  [a],  chh.  viii, 
ix,  and  by  Joyce  [c],  ch.  vii.  The  primary  sources  are  Garcilasso  de 


NOTES  371 

la  Vega,  Cieza  de  Leon,  Molina,  Salcamayhua,  and  Sarmiento,  and 
perhaps  most  important  of  all  Bias  Valera,  the  "Anonymous  Jesuit" 
whose  writings  were  utilized  by  various  early  narrators.  Salcamay- 
hua's  chart  is  published  by  Markham,  in  a  corrected  form,  in  Rites 
and  Laws  of  the  Yncas,  p.  84.  The  literal  reproduction  accompanies 
Hagar's  discussion  of  it,  CA  xii,  and  it  has  been  several  times  repro- 
duced. Its  interpretation  is  discussed  by  Hagar,  loc.  cit.;  Spinden, 
A  A,  new  series,  xviii  (1916);  Lafone  Quevado  [b],  and  "Los  Ojos  de 
Imaymana,"  with  a  reproduction  of  the  chart  which  he  characterizes 
as  "the  key  to  Peruvian  symbolism";  cf.,  also,  Ambrosetti,  CA  xix 
(Washington,  1913). 

29.  The  myth  of  the  Ayars  is  recorded  by  Sarmiento,  x-xiii;  it  is 
discussed  by  Markham  [a],  ch.  iv,  where  are  the  interpretations  of 
the  names  adopted  in  this  text. 

30.  Cieza  de  Leon  [b],  chh.  vi-viii  (pp.  13,  16,  quoted). 

31.  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  bk.  i,  ch.  xviii. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

1.  The  argument  for  the  antiquity  of  man  in  South  America  rests 
mainly  upon  the  discoveries  and  theories  of  Ameghino,  especially, 
La  Antigiiedad  del  hombre  en  la  Plata  (2  vols.,  Buenos  Aires  and 
Paris,  1880)  and  artt.  in  AnMB,  who  is  followed  by  other  Argen- 
tinian  savants.     Ales   Hrdlicka,  Early  Man  in   South  America   (52 
BBE,  Washington,  1912),  examines   the  claims  made  for  the  sev- 
eral discoveries  and  uniformly  rejects  the  assumption  of  their  great 
age,  in  which  opinion  he  is  generally  followed  by  North  American 
anthropologists;  as  cf.  Wissler,   The  American  Indian  (New  York, 
1917).  The  theory  favored  by  Hrdlicka  and  others  is  of  the  peopling 
of  the  Americas  by  successive  waves  of  immigrants  from  north- 
eastern Asia,  with  possible  minor  intrusions  of  Oceanic  peoples  along 
the  Pacific  coasts  of  the  southern  continent. 

2.  The  sketch  of  South  American  ethnography  in  d'Orbigny's 
UHomme  americain  is,  of  course,  now  superseded  in  a  multitude  of 
details;  it  appears,  however,  to  conform,  in  broad  lines,  to  the  deduc- 
tions of  later  students.    In  addition  to  d'Orbigny  and  Schmidt  (ZE 
xlv,    1913),   Brinton,    The  American    Race,   Beuchat,   Manuel,    and 
Wissler,   The  American  Indian,  present  the  most  available  ethno- 
graphic analyses. 

3.  "Linguistic  Stocks  of  South  American  Indians,"  in  A  A,  new 
series,  xv  (1913);   also,  Wissler,  The  American  Indian,  pp.  381-85, 
listing  eighty-four  stocks.    It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that 
the  tendency  of  minute  study  is  eventually  to  diminish  the  number  of 
linguistic  stocks  having  no  detectable  relationships,  and  that,  in  any 


372  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

case,  classifications  based  upon  cultural  grade  are  more  important  for 
the  student  of  mythology  than  are  those  based  upon  language  alone. 

4.  Brett  [a],  p.  36;  other  quotations  from  this  work  are  from  pp. 
374,  401,  403. 

5.  King  Blanco,  pp.  63-64.    The  lack  of  significant  early  authorities 
for  the  mythologies  of  the  region  of  Guiana  and  the  Orinoco  (Gumilla 
is  as  important  as  any)  is  compensated  by  the  careful  work  of  later 
observers  of  the  native  tribes,  especially  of  Guiana.    Among  these, 
Humboldt,  Sir  Richard  and  Robert  H.  Schomburgk,  and  Brett,  in 
the  early  and  middle  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  im  Thurn, 
at  a  later  period,  hold  first  place,  while  the  contributions  of  van  Coll, 
in  Anthropos  ii,  iii  (1907,  1908),  are  no  less  noteworthy.    Latest  of 
all  is  Walter  Roth's  "  Inquiry  into  the  Animism  and  Folk-Lore  of  the 
Guiana  Indians,"  in  30  ARBE  (1915),  which,  as  a  careful  study  of 
the  myth-literature  of  a  South  American  group,  stands  in  a  class  by 
itself;  it  is  furnished  with  a  careful  bibliography.    The  reader  will 
understand  that  the  intimate  relation  between  the  Antillean  and 
Continental  Carib  (and,  to  a  less  extent,  Arawakan)  ideas  brings  the 
subject-matter  of  this  chapter  into  direct  connexion  with  that  of 
Chapter  I;  while  it  should  also  be  obvious  that  the  Orinoco  region  is 
only  separated  from  the  Amazonian  for  convenience,  and  that  Chap- 
ter X  is  virtually  but  a  further  study  of  the  same  level  and  type  of 
thought.  The  bibliographies  of  Chh.  I,  VI,  and  X  are  supplementary, 
for  this  same  region,  to  that  given  for  Chapter  VIII. 

6.  Humboldt  [b]  (Ross),  iii.  69;  im  Thurn,  pp.  365-66. 

7.  Surely  one  may  indulge  a  wry  smile  when  told  that  "heavenly 
father"  and  "creator"  are  no  attributes  of  God,  and  may  be  reason- 
ably justified   in   preferring   Sir  Richard   Schomburgk's  judgment, 
where  he  says  (i.  170):  "Almost  all  stocks  of  British  Guiana  are  one 
in  their  religious  convictions,  at  least  in  the  main;  the  Creator  of  the 
world  and  of  mankind  is  an  infinitely  exalted  being,  but  his  energy  is 
so  occupied  in  ruling  and  maintaining  the  earth  that  he  can  give  no 
special  care  to  individual  men."    This  unusual  reason  for  the  in- 
difference of  the  Supreme  Being  toward  the  affairs  of  ordinary  men 
is  probably  an  inference  of  the  author's.   Roth  commences  his  study 
of  Guiana  Indian  beliefs  with  a  chapter  entitled,  "No  Evidence  of 
Belief  in  a  Supreme  Being,"  and  begins  his  discussion  with  the  state- 
ment: "Careful  investigation  forces  one  to  the  conclusion  that,  on 
the  evidence,  the  native  tribes  of  Guiana  had  no  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Being  in  the  modern  conception  of  the  term,"  quoting  evidence,  from 
Gumilla  and  others,  which  to  the  present  writer  seems  to  point  in 
just  the  opposite  direction.    Of  course,  the  phrase  "in  the  modern 
conception  of  the  term"  is  the  key  to  much  difference  in  judgement. 
If  it  means  that  savages  have  no  conception  of  a  Divine  Ens,  Esse, 


NOTES  373 

Actus  Purus,  or  the  like,  definable  by  highly  abstract  attributes, 
(a  va  sans  dire;  but  if  the  intention  is  to  say  that  there  is  no  primitive 
belief  in  a  luminous  Sky  Father,  creator  and  ruler,  good  on  the  whole, 
though  not  preoccupied  with  the  small  details  of  earthly  and  human 
affairs,  such  a  conclusion  is  directly  opposed  to  all  evidence,  early 
and  late,  North  American  and  South  American,  missionary  and 
anthropological.  Cf.  Mythology  of  All  Races,  x.  Note  6,  and  refer- 
ences there  given;  and,  in  the  present  volume,  not  only  Ch.  I,  iii 
(Ramon  Pane  is  surely  among  the  earliest),  but  also  —  passing  over 
the  numerous  allusions  in  descriptions  of  the  pantheons  of  the  more 
advanced  tribes  (Chh.  II-VII)  —  Ch.  IX,  iii  (early  and  late  for  the 
low  Brazilian  tribes);  Ch.  X,  ii,  iii,  iv. 

8.  Sir  Richard   Schomburgk,   ii.   319-20;  i.   170-72.    Roth  gives 
legends  from  many  sources  touching  these  deities  and  others  of  a 
similar  character. 

9.  Humboldt  [b]  (Ross),  ii.  362. 

10.  This  tale  is  translated  and  abridged  from  van  Coll,  in  An- 
thropos,  ii,  682-89;  Roth,  chh.  vii,  xviii,  affords  an  excellent  com- 
mentary. 

11.  Brett  [a],  ch.  x,  pp.  377-78. 

12.  Humboldt  [b]  (Ross),  ii.  182-83,  473~75-   Descriptions  of  the 
petroglyphs  are  to  be  found  in  Sir  Richard  Schomburgk,  i.  319-21, 
and  im  Thurn,  ch.  xix. 

13.  Boddam-Whetham,  Folk-Lore,  v.  317  (im  Thurn,  p.  376,  mis- 
quoting Brett,  calls  this  an  Arawakan  tale);  for  other  creation  leg- 
ends, see  Roth,  ch.  iv. 

14.  Van  Coll,  Anthropos,  iii.  482-86. 

15.  Humboldt  [b]  (Ross),  iii.  362-63;  other  citations  from  Hum- 
boldt in  this  section  are,  id.  op.,  iii.  70;  ii.  321 ;  iii.  293,  305;  ii.  259-60, 
in  order. 

1 6.  Boddam-Whetham,  F oik-Lore,  v.  317-21. 

17.  Sir  Richard  Schomburgk,  i.  239-41;  im  Thurn,  p.  384.   Other 
quotations  are  from  Ruiz  Blanco,  pp.  66-67;  Brett  [a],  pp.  278,  107, 

356. 

1 8.  For  contemporary  beliefs  about  Lope  de  Aguirre,  see  Mozans 
(J.  A.  Zahm),  [a],  pp.  264-67. 

CHAPTER  IX 

I.  The  myth  of  the  Amazons  is  not  only  the  earliest  European 
legend  to  become  acclimated  in  America  (cf.  Ch.  I,  ii  [with  Note  5], 
iv;  Ch.  VIII,  iii),  it  is  also  one  of  the  most  obstinate  and  recurrent, 
and  a  perennial  subject  of  the  interest  of  commentators.  For  general 
discussions  of  the  question,  see  Chamberlain,  "Recent  Literature 


374  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

on  the  South  American  Amazons,"  in  JAFL  xxiv.  16-20  (1911),  and 
Rothery,  The  Amazons  in  Antiquity  and  Modern  Times  (London, 
1910),  which  reviews  the  world-wide  scope  and  forms  of  the  myth, 
chh.  viii,  ix,  being  devoted  to  the  South  American  instances.  Still 
more  recent  is  Whiff  en,  The  Northwest  Amazons  (New  York,  1916), 
pp.  239-40. 

2.  Markham  [e],  p.  122.    Carvajal  is  cited  in  the  same  work,  pp. 

34,  26. 

3.  Magalhaes  de   Gandavo,  ch.  x   (TC,  pp.   116-17);    Schmidel 
(Hulsius),  ch.  xxxiii;  Raleigh  (in  Hakluyt's   Voyages,  vol.  x),  pp. 
366-68. 

4.  Humboldt  [b]  (Ross),  ii.  395  ff.;  iii.  79.    Lore  pertaining  to  the 
Amazon  stone  is  hardly  second  to  that  dealing  with  the  Amazons 
themselves.    Authorities  here  cited  are  La  Condamine,  pp.  102-113; 
Spruce,  ii,  ch.  xxvi  (p.  458  quoted);  Ehrenreich  [b],  especially  pp. 
64,  65,  with  references  to  Barbosa  Rodrigues  and  to  Brett  [b].  Others 
to  consult  are  Rothery,  ch.  ix;  T.  Wilson,  "Jade  in  America,"  in  CA 
xii   (Paris,   1902);  J.   E.  Pogue,  "Aboriginal  Use   of   Turquoise  in 
North  America,"  in  A  A,  new  series,  xiv  (1912);  and  I.  B.  Moura, 
"Sur  le  progres  de  1'Amazonie,"  in  CA  xvi  (Vienna,  1910). 

5.  See  Mythology  of  All  Nations,  x.  160,  203,  205,  210,  and  Note  64. 

6.  Netto,  CA  vii  (Berlin,  1890),  pp.  201  ff. 

7.  Acurla  (Markham  [e]),  p.  83.  The  literature  of  a  region  so  vast 
as  that  of  the  basin  of  the  Amazon  and  the  coasts  of  Brazil  is  itself 
naturally  great   and   scattered.    The   earlier  narratives  —  such   as 
those  of  Acufia,  Cardim,  Carvajal,  Orellana,  Ortiguerra,  de  Lery, 
Ulrich  Schmidel,  and  Hans  Staden  —  are  valuable  chiefly  for  the 
hints  which  they  give  of  the  aboriginal  prevalence  of  ideas  studied 
with  more  understanding  by  later  investigators.    Among  the  more 
important  later  writers  are  d'Orbigny,  Couto  de  Magalhaes,  Ehren- 
reich, Koch-Grxinberg,  von  den  Steinen,  Whiffen,  and  Miller;  while 
Teschauer's  contributions  to  Anthropos,  i,  furnish  the  best  collection 
for  the  Brazilian  region  as  a  whole. 

8.  Kunike,  "Der  Fisch  als  Fruchtbarkeitssymbol,"  in  Anthropos 
vii  (1912),  especially  section  vi;  Teschauer  [a],  part  i,  texts  (mainly 
derived  from  Couto  de  Magalhaes);  Tastevin,  sections  iii,  vi;  Gar- 
cilasso  de  la  Vega,  bk.  i,  chh.  ix,  x  (quoted). 

9.  Cook,  p.  385;  cf.  Whiffen,  chh.   xv,  xvi,  xviii;  and  von  den 
Steinen  [b],  pp.  239-41. 

10.  Whiffen,  pp.  385-86.   The  myths  of  manioc  and  other  vegeta- 
tion are  from  Teschauer  [a],  p.  743;  Couto  de  Magalhaes,  ii.  134-35; 
Whiffen,  loc.  cit.;  and  Koch-Griinberg  [a],  ii.  292-93. 

11.  The  legends  of  St.  Thomas  are  discussed  by  Granada,  ch.  xv, 
especially  pp.  210-15  (cf.  also,  ch.  xx,  "Origen  mitico  y  excelencias 


NOTES  375 

del  urutau,"  with  accounts  of  the  vegetation-spirit  Neambiu).  The 
suggested  relationship  of  Brazilian  and  Peruvian  myth  is  considered 
by  Lafone  Quevado  in  RevMP  iii.  332-36;  cf,  also,  Wissler,  The 
American  Indian,  pp.  198-99.  It  may  be  worth  noting  that  there  is  a 
group  of  South  American  names  of  mythic  heroes  or  deities  which 
might,  in  one  form  or  another,  suggest  or  be  confounded  with  Tomas, 
among  them  the  Guarani  Tamoi  (same  as  Tupan,  and  perhaps  re- 
lated to  Tonapa),  the  Tupi  Zume.  The  legend  has  been  discussed  in 
the  present  work  in  Ch.  VII,  iv. 

12.  Koch-Griinberg  [a],  ii.  173-34;  f°r  details  regarding  the  use  of 
masks  and  mask-dances,  see  also  Whiffen;  Tastevin;  M.  Schmidt, 
ch.  xiv;  Cook,  ch.  xxiii;  Spruce,  ch.  xxv;  von  den  Steinen  [b];  and 
Stradelli. 

13.  Cardim  (Purchas,  xvi),  pp.  419-20;  Thevet  [b],  pp.   136-39; 
Keane,  p.  209;  Ehrenreich  [c],  p.  34;  Hans  Staden  [b],  ch.  xxii. 

14.  Fric  and  Radin,  p.  391;  Ignace,  pp.  952-53;  von  Rosen,  pp. 
656-67;  Pierini,  pp.  703  ff. 

15.  D'Orbigny,  vii,  ch.  xxxi,  pp.  12-24;  iv,  109-15;  cf.  also  pp. 
265,  296-99,  337,  502-10. 

1 6.  Whiffen,  ch.  xvii  (p.  218  quoted);  Church,  p.  235.    The  subject 
here  is  a  continuation  of  that  discussed  in  Ch.  VIII,  ii  (with  Note  7) ; 
in  connexion  with  which,  with  reference  to  Brazil,  the  comment  of 
Couto  de  Magalhaes  is  significant  (part  ii,  p.  122):  "Como  quer  que 
seja,  a  idea  de  un  Deus  todo  poderoso,  e  unico,  nao  foi  possuida  pelos 
nossos  selvagens  ao  tempo  da  descoberta  da  America;  e  pois  nao  era 
possival  que  sua  lingua  tivesse  uma  palvra  que  a  podesse  expressar. 
Ha  no  entretanto  um  principio   superior  qualificado  com  o  nome 
de  Tupan  a  quern  parece  que  attribuiam  maior  poder  do  que  aos 
outras."    The  real  question  to  be  resolved  is  what  are  the  necessary 
attributes  of  a  "supreme  being."    Cf.  Mythology  of  All  Nations,  x, 
Note  6. 

17.  On  wood-demons  and  the  like,  in  addition  to  Cardim,  see 
Teschauer  [a],  pp.  24-34;  Koch-Griinberg,  [a],  i.  190;  ii.  157;  and 
Granada,  ch.  xxxi,  "Demonios,  apariciones,  fantasmas,  etc." 

1 8.  On  ghosts  and  metamorphoses,  see  Ignace,  pp.  952-53;  Fric 
and  Radin;  Fric  [a];  von  Rosen,  p.  657;  and  Cook,  p.  122. 

19.  On  were-beasts,  see  Ambrosetti  [b];  cf.  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega, 
bk.  i,  ch.  ix. 

20.  Loci  citati  touching  cannibalism  are  Haseman,  pp.  345-46; 
Staden   [a],   ch.  xliii;   [b],  chh.  xxv,   xxviii;   Cardim   (Purchas),  ii. 
431-40;  and  Whiffen,  pp.  118-24. 

21.  Von  den  Steinen  [b],  p.  323. 

22.  Couto  de  Magalhaes,  part  i,  texts. 

23.  Steere,  "Narrative  of  a  Visit  to  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  Purus 


376  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

River,"  in  Report  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1901  (Washington, 

1903)- 

24.  Loci  citati  are  Ehrenreich  [b],  pp.  34-40;  [c],  p.  34;  Markham 
[d],  p.  119;  von  den  Steinen  [a],  p.  283;  [b],  pp.  322  fL;  Teschauer  [a], 
pp.  731  ff.  (citing  Barbosa  Rodrigues  and  others);  Koch-Griinberg 
[b],  no.  I. 

25.  Feliciano  de  Oliveira,  CA  xviii  (London,  1913),  pp.  394-96. 

26.  Teschauer  [a],  p.  731.   The  Kaduveo  genesis  is  given  by  Fric, 
in  CA  xviii,  397  ff.    Stories  of  both  types  are  widespread  through- 
out the  two  Americas. 

27.  Couto  de  Magalhaes,  part  i,  texts.    This  is  among  the  most 
interesting  of  all  American  myths;  it  is  clearly  cosmogonic  in  char- 
acter, yet  it  reverses  the  customary  procedure  of  cosmogonies,  be- 
ginning with  an  illuminated  world  rather  than  a  chaotic  gloom. 
Possibly  this  is  an  indication  of  primitiveness,  for  the  conception  of 
night  and  chaos  as  the  antecedent  of  cosmic  order  would  seem  to  call 
for  a  certain  degree  of  imaginative  austerity;  it  is  not  simple  nor 
childlike. 

28.  Cardim  (Purchas),  p.  418. 

29.  Adam  [b],  p.  319.    Other  sources  for  tales  of  the  deluge  are 
Borba  [b],  pp.  223-25;  Kissenberth,  in  ZE  xl.  49;  Ehrenreich  [b], 
pp.  30-31;  Teschauer;  and  von  Martius. 

30.  D'Orbigny,  iii.  209-14;  von  den  Steinen  [a],  pp.  282-85;  [b]> 
pp.  322—27;  and  cf.  the  Kapoi  legends  in  Koch-Griinberg  [a].   The 
Yuracara  tale  narrated  by  d'Orbigny  is  one  of  the  best  and  most 
fully  reported  of  South  American  myths. 

CHAPTER  X 

1.  On  the  physical  and  ethnological  conditions  of  tHe  Chaco  and 
the  Abiponean  districts  the  important  authorities  are  Dobrizhoffer; 
Grubb  [a],  [b];  Koch,  "Zur  Ethnographic  der  Paraguay-Gebiete," 
in  MitAGW  xxxiii  (1903);  for  the  southern  region  important  are, 
Voyages  of  the  Adventure  and  the  Beagle;  the  publications  of  the 
Mission  scientifique  du  Cap  Horn;  Cooper,  Analytical  and  Critical 
Bibliography  of  the  Tribes  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  and  Adjacent  Territory 
(dj  BBE),  with  map;  and  El  Norte  de  la  Patagonia,  with  map,  pub- 
lished by  the  Argentine  Ministry  of  Public  Works,  Buenos  Aires,  1914. 

2.  D'Orbigny,  L'Homme  americain,  p.  233;  J.  Guevara,  Historia, 
pp.  32,  265  (citing  Fernandez,  Relacion  historial,-  p.  39). 

3.  Dobrizhoffer,  ii,  ch.  viii  (pp.  57-59,  64-65  quoted);  ch.  x  (p.  94 
quoted). 

4.  Grubb  [b],  chh.  xi,  xii,  xiv  (pp.  139-41    quoted),  xvi  (p.  163 
quoted) ;  cf.  Karsten,  sections  i,  iii. 


NOTES  377 

5.  T.  Guevara  [a],  i,  ch.  viii,  "Los  mitos  y  las  ideas  relijiosas  de 
los  Indies,"  pp.  223-25.    Latcham,  JAI  xxxix,  gives  an  account  of 
Araucanian  ideas,  in  general  corresponding  to  Guevara,  to  whom 
he  is  apparently  indebted. 

6.  Molina,  ch.  v  (pp.  84,  86,  91  quoted). 

7.  Vicuna  Cifuentes,  especially  sections  vi-xi,  xiv-xvi,  xxi-xxiii. 
This  work  is  particularly  valuable  in  that  it  collects  the  statements 
of  many  authorities  in  regard  to  the  creatures  of  Chilean  folk-lore. 

8.  Dobrizhoffer,  ii.  89-90. 

9.  The  cosmogony  is  in  Molina,  ch.  v;  the  tale  of  the  two  brothers 
in  Lenz,  p.  225. 

10.  Pigafetta,  in  The  First  Voyage  Around  the  World  by  Magellan 
(HS,  series  i,  1874),  PP-  5°~55;  the  "Genoese  Pilot,"  ib,  p.  5. 

11.  Dobrizhoffer,  ii.  89-90. 

12.  Prichard,  pp.  85-86,  97-98.    To  Prichard's  evidence  may  be 
added  that  of  Captain  R.  N.  Musters,  another  recent  traveller, 
quoted  by  Church,  Aborigines  .of  South  America,  pp.  294—95:  "The 
religion  of  the  Tehuelches  is  distinguished  from  that  of  the  Arau- 
canians  and  Pampas  by  the  absence  of  any  trace  of  sun  worship.  .  .  . 
There  is  no  doubt  that  they  do  believe  in  a  good  Spirit,  though  they 
think  he  lives  'careless  of  mankind'";  Captain  Musters  regards  the 
gualichu  as  a  class  of  daemonic  powers  —  an  altogether  probable 
interpretation. 

13.  D'Orbigny,  L'Homme  americain,  pp.  220,  225;  Foyage  of  the 
Beagle,  ii.  161-62;  cf.  also  i,  ch.  vi. 

14.  Deniker  [b]  gives  the  myth  of  El-lal,  after  Lista. 

15.  Darwin,  pp.  240-42;  Bridges,  in  RevMP  iii,  p.  24. 

1 6.  Fitzroy,  ch.  ix,  pp.  180-81. 

17.  Hyades  and  Deniker,  ch.  v,  pp.  254-57. 

1 8.  Cooper,  63  BBE,  pp.  145  ff.,  summarizes  the  scanty  gleanings 
from  the  notes  of  travellers  and  missionaries  touching  Fuegian  re- 
ligious conceptions.    The  reference  to  the  Salesian  fathers  (p.  147) 
is  quoted  from  Cojazzi  (p.  124);  that  to  Captain  Low  is  from  Fitzroy 
(p.  190). 

19.  Cooper,  op.  cit.,  pp.  162-64,  citing  various  authorities. 

20.  Despard,  quoted  by  Cooper,  op.  cit.y  p.  148. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I.  ABBREVIATIONS 

A  A American  Anthropologist. 

AnMB     .    .    .     Anales  del  Museo  Nacional  de  Buenos  Aires. 
AnMM    .    .    .     Anales  del  Museo  Nacional  de  Mexico. 
AnMG ....     Annales  du  Musee  Guimet. 

ARBE  ....     Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnol- 
ogy, Washington. 
BBE     ....     Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  American   Ethnology, 

Washington. 

CA Comptes  rendus  du  Congres  des  Americanistes. 

ERE     ....      Encyclopaedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics. 

HS Works  issued  by  the  Hakluyt  Society. 

JAFL  ....     Journal  of  American  Folklore. 

JAI Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  of  Great 

Britain  and  Ireland. 

JSAP  ....     Journal  de  la  Societe  des  Americanistes  de  Paris. 
MitAGW '.    .    .     Mitteilungen    der   Anthropologischen    Gesellschaft 

in  Wien. 

MPM  ....     Memoirs  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  Cambridge. 
PaPM ....      Papers  of  the  Peabody  Museum. 
RevMP.  .    .    .     Revista  del  Museo  de  La  Plata. 
SocAA .    .    .    .     Memorias    y    Revista    de    la    Sociedad    cientifica 

"Antonio  Alzate." 
TC Voyages,    Relations   et   Memoires   originaux   pour 

servir  a  1'histoire  de  la  decouverte  de  1'Amerique. 

H.  Ternaux-Compans,  editor. 
ZE Zeitschrift  fur  Ethnologic. 

II.    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  GUIDES 

Analytical  and  Critical  Bibliography  of  the  Tribes  of  Tierra  del  Fuego 
and  Adjacent  Territory  (63  BBE}.  By  JOHN  M.  COOPER.  Wash- 
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A  Study  of  Maya  Art,  "Bibliography."  By  H.  J.  SPINDEN.  In  MPM 
vi  (1913). 


7 


382  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Bibliografia  Mexicana  del  siglo  XVI.    By  JOAQUIN   GARCIA  ICAZ- 

BALCETA.    Mexico,  1866. 
Bibliography  of  the  Anthropology  of  Peru.    By  GEO.  A.  DORSEY. 

Publications  of  the  Field  Columbian  Museum,  Anthropological 

Series,  ii,  1898. 
Bibliography  of  Peru.  A.D.  1526-1907.  By  SIR  CLEMENTS  MARKHAM. 

HS,  series  ii,  Vol.  xxii.  Cambridge,  1907. 

Bibliotheca  Americana  Vetustissima.  By  H.  HARISSE.  New  York, 
1866.  Additions,  Paris,  1872. 

Bibliotheque  americaine  ou  catalogue  des  ouvrages  relatifs  a  VAmerique 
qui  ont  paru  depuis  sa  decouverte  jusqu'd  Pan  1700.  By  H. 
TERNAUX-COMPANS.  Paris,  1837. 

Catalogue  de  livres  rares  et  precieux,  manuscrits  el  imprimes,  principale- 

ment  sur  I'Amerique  et  sur  les  langues  du  monde  entier,  composant 

la  bibliotheque  de  M.  Alph.-L.  Pinart.   Paris,  1883. 
Dictionary  of  Works  Relating  to  America  from  the  Discovery  to  the 

Present  Time.      By  JOSEPH  SABIN.     Vols.  i-xx.      New  York, 

1868-92. 
Die  Mythen  und  Legenden  der  siidamerikanischen  Urvolker.   "  Litera- 

turverzeichnis."   By  PAUL  EHRENREICH.   Berlin,  1905. 
Ensayo  bibliogrdfico  Mexicano  del  siglo  XVII.    By  VINCENTE  DE  P. 

ANDRADE.  Mexico,  1900. 
"Ergebnisse  und  Aufgaben  der  mexikanistischen  Forschung."     By 

WALTER  LEHMANN.     In  Archiv  fur  Anthropologie,  neue  Folge, 

Band  vi  (1907).     Tr.  SEYMOUR  DE  RICCI,  Methods  and  Results 

in  Mexican  Research,  Paris,  1909. 
Essai  sur  les  sources  de  I'histoire  des  Antilles  franc,  aise  (1492-1664). 

By  Jacques  de  Dampierre.     Paris,  1904. 

Historiadores  de  Yucatan.  By  GUSTAVO  MARTINEZ  ALOMIA.  Cam- 
peche,  1906. 

History  of  Spanish  Literature.  By  GEORGE  TICKNOR.  3  vols.  Boston, 
1854.  4th  ed.,  Boston,  no  date. 

Idea  de  una  nueva  historia  general  de  la  America  septentrional,  with 
Catdlogo  del  Museo  Historico  Indiana.  By  LORENZO  BOTURINI 
BENADUCCI.  Madrid,  1746;  also,  Mexico,  1887. 

Las  Publicaciones  del  Museo  Nacional  de  Arqueologia.    By  JUAN  B. 

IGUINEZ.   Mexico,  1913. 
List  of  Publications  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  (58  BBE). 

Washington,  1914. 

Manuel  d'arc heologie  americaine.  "Bibliographic."  By  H.  BEUCHAT. 
Paris,  1912. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  383 

"Museo  Mitre,"  Catdlogo  de  la  biblioteca.  Published  by  the  Minis- 
terio  de  Justicia  e  Instruccion  Publica.  Buenos  Aires. 

Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America.  By  JUSTIN  WINSOR.  Vol.  i, 
Aboriginal  America,  "  Bibliographical  Appendix."  Boston,  1889. 

Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States  of  North  America.  By  H.  H.  BAN- 
CROFT. Vol.  i,  "Authorities  Quoted."  New  York,  1785. 

"Notes  on  the  Bibliography  of  Yucatan  and  Central  America."  By 
A.  F.  BANDELIER.  In  American  Antiquarian,  new  series,  i  (1882). 

"Recent  Literature  on  the  South  American  Amazons."  By  A.  F. 
CHAMBERLAIN.  In  JAFL,  xxiv  (1911). 

NOTE.  —  Where  important  bibliographies  are  attached  to  works  here  below  listed 
the  fact  is  indicated:  **  Bibliography. 


III.  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  AND  ETHNOLOGICAL  GUIDES 

Aborigines  of  South  America.  By  COL.  G.  E.  CHURCH.  London,  1912. 
"A  list  of  the  Tribes  of  the  Valley  of  the  Amazons."  By  SIR  CLEMENTS 

MARKHAM..  In  JAI  xl  (1910). 
Ancient   Civilizations    of  Mexico    and   Central  America  (American 

Museum  of  Natural  History,  Handbook  Series,  No.  j).    By  H.  J. 

SPINDEN.  New  York,  1917. 
"Areas  of  American  Culture."  By  W.  H.  HOLMES.  In  A  A,  new  series, 

xvi  (1914).  Also  in  Anthropology  in  North  America,  by  F.  BOAS 

and  others;  New  York,  1915.  With  map. 
A  Study  of  Maya  Art.  By  H.  J.  SPINDEN.  In  MPM  vi  (1913). 
Beitrdge  zur  Ethnographie  und  Sprachenkunde  Amerikas.    By  C.  P. 

VON  MARTIUS.  Leipzig,  1867. 
Biologia  Centrali-Americana.    Archaeology.    By  A.  P.   MAUDSLEY. 

4  vols.    London,  1889-1902. 
Catdlogo  de  la  coleccion  de  Antropologia  del  Museo  Nacional.    By 

ALONSO  HERRERA  and  RICARDO  E.  CICERO.    Mexico.    1895. 
Central  and  South  America.   By  A.  H.  KEANE.    2  vols.   London,  1901. 
Early   Man   in    South  America  (52  BBE).     By  ALES  HRDLICKA. 

Washington,  1912. 
Familias  linguisticas  de  Mexico.    By  NICOLAS  LEON.    Mexico,  1877; 

2d  ed.,  1902.  Also  in  AnMM  vii  (1903).  With  map. 
Geografia  de  las  lenguas  y  carta  etnogrdfica  de  Mexico.    By  MANUEL 

OROZCO  Y  BERRA.    Mexico,  1864.    With  map. 
Indian  Languages  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  (44.  BBE).    By 

CYRUS  THOMAS  and  JOHN  R.  SWANTON.    Washington,  1911. 

**  Bibliography  and  map. 


384  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

In  Indian  Mexico.  By  FREDERICK  STARR.  Chicago,  1908.  Also, 
Notes  Upon  the  Ethnography  of  Southern  Mexico  (Proceedings  of 
the  Davenport  Academy  of  Science,  ix).  Davenport,  1902. 

Introduction  to  the  Study  of  North  American  Archeology.  By  CYRUS 
THOMAS.  Cincinnati,  1903. 

"  Kulturkreise  und  Kulturschichten  in  Sudamerika."  By  W.  SCHMIDT. 
In  ZE  xlv  (1913).  ** Bibliography  and  map. 

L'Homme  Americain.  By  ALCIDE  DESSALINES  D'ORBIGNY.  Tome  iv 
of  Voyage  dans  I'Amerique  meridionale  .  .  .  execute  pendant  les 
annees  1826-1833;  9  vols.,  Paris,  1835-47. 

"Linguistic  Stocks  of  South  American  Indians."  By  A.  F.  CHAMBER- 
LAIN. In  A  A,  new  series,  xv  (1913).  Also,  "South  American 
Linguistic  Stocks,"  in  CA  xv.  2  (1908). 

Manuel  d'archeologie  americaine.   By  H.  BEUCHAT.  Paris,  1912. 
Moseteno  Vocabulary  and  Treatises.   By  BENIGNO  BIBOLOTTI;  with 

introduction  by  R.  SCHULLER.    Evanston  and  Chicago,   1917. 

**Bibliography  and  map  (Bolivian  Indians). 
"Origenes  Etnograficos  de  Colombia."    By  CARLOS  CUERVO  MAR- 

QUEZ.    In  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific 

Congress  y  Vol.  i.    Washington,   1917. 
Pre-Historic  America.    By  the  MARQUIS  DE  NADAILLAC;  ed.  W.  H. 

DALL,  London  and  New  York,  1884. 
South  American  Archaeology,  London,   1912;  Mexican  Archaeology, 

London,  1914;  Central  American  and  West  Indian  Archaeology, 

London,  1916.      By  T.  A.  JOYCE. 
The  American  Indian.    An  Introduction  to  the  Anthropology  of  the 

New  World.   By  CLARK  WISSLER.  New  York,  1917. 
"The  Indian  Linguistic  Stocks  of  Oaxaca,  Mexico."    By  WM.  H. 

MECHLING.   In  A  A,  new  series,  xiv  (1912).    **  Bibliography. 
"The  Origin  and  Distribution  of  Agriculture  in  America."    By  H.  J. 

SPINDEN.   In  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917). 

IV.  GENERAL  WORKS 

(a)    Critical  and  Comparative 

BANCROFT,  H.  H.,  The  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States.    5  vols.    New 

York,  1875. 
BASTIAN,  A.,  Die  Culturldnder  des  Alien  America.    3  vols.    Berlin, 

1878-89. 
BOAS,  FRANZ,  The  Mind  of  Primitive  Man.  New  York,  1911. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  385 

BRINTON,  DANIEL  G.,  [a],  Myths  of  the  New  World.  3d  ed.  Philadel- 
phia, 1896. 

[b],  American  Hero  Myths.   Philadelphia,  1882. 

[c],  Essays  of  an  Americanist.  Philadelphia,  1890. 

EHRENREICH,  PAUL,  [a],  Die  allgemeine  Mythologie  und  ihre  ethnolo- 
gischen  Grundlagen.  Leipzig,  1910. 

FALIES,  Louis,  Etudes  historiques  et  philosophiques  sur  les  civilisa- 
tions. 2  vols.  Paris,  no  date. 

GRAEBNER,  FRITZ,  Methode  der  Ethnologie.    Heidelberg,  1911. 
LAFITAU,  J.  F.,  Moeurs  des  sauvages  ameriquains.  Tomes  i-ii.   Paris, 
1724.   (An  edition  in  4  vols.  was  issued  simultaneously.) 

MULLER,  J.  G.,  Geschichte  der  amerikanischen  Urreligionen.  Basel, 
1867. 

NUTTALL,  ZELIA,  [a],  The  Fundamental  Principles  of  Old  and  New 

World  Civilizations  (PaPM  ii).    Cambridge,  1901. 
PAYNE,  EDWARD  J.,  History  of  the  New  World  called  America.    2  vols. 

Oxford  and  New  York,  1892,  1899. 
SAPIR,  E.,  Time  Perspective  in  Aboriginal  American  Culture,  A  Study 

in  Method  (G.  S.  C.,  Anthropological  Series,  No.  jj).    Ottawa, 

1916. 
THEVET,  ANDRE,  Cosmographie  universelle.  Paris,  1575. 

(b)    Important  Collections 

Anales  del  Museo  Nacional  de  Buenos  Aires.  Vols.  i-iii,  1864-91; 
second  series,  Vols.  i-iv,  1895-1902;  third  series,  Vols.  i  ff., 
1902  ff.  Buenos  Aires. 

Anales  del  Museo  Nacional  de  Mexico.  Vols.  i-vii,  1877-1903;  sec- 
ond series,  Vols.  i-v,  1903-09;  third  series,  Vols.  i  ff.,  1909  ff. 
Mexico. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  (Smithsonian 
Institution).  Washington,  1881  ff. 

Anthropological  Publications,  University  of  Pennsylvania,  The  Mu- 
seum. Vols.  i  ff.,  1909  ff.  Philadelphia. 

Antiquities  of  Mexico,  comprising  fac-similes  of  Ancient  Mexican 
Paintings  and  Hieroglyphics  .  .  .  together  with  the  Monuments  of 
New  Spain,  by  M.  Dupaix  .  .  .  the  whole  illustrated  by  many 
valuable  inedited  manuscripts,  by  Lord  Kingsborough.  Vols.  i— ix. 
London,  1831-48. 

Biblioleca  maritima  espanola.  Ed.  MARTIN  FERNANDEZ  DE  NAVAR- 
RETE.  2  vols.  Madrid,  1851. 


386  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Bibliotheque  de  linguistique  et  d'ethnographie  americaines.  Ed.  A. 
PINART.  Vols.  i-iv.  San  Francisco,  1876-82. 

Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  (Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion). Washington,  18876°. 

Coleccion  de  documentos  ineditos  -para  la  historia  de  Espana  y  de  sus 
Indias.  Vols.  i-xlii,  1864-84;  second  series,  Vols.  i-xiii,  1885- 
1900.  Madrid.  Also,  Nueva  coleccion,  etc.,  Vols.  i-vi,  1892-96. 
Madrid. 

Coleccion  de  documentos  ineditos  relativos  al  descubrimiento,  conquista, 
y  organizacion  de  las  antiguas  posesiones  espanolas  de  America  y 
Oceania.  Vols.  i.-xlii.  Madrid,  1864-84.  Second  series  [Coleccion 
de  documentos  ineditos  .  .  .  de  ultramar],  Vols.  i  if.,  1885  ff. 

Coleccion  de  documentos  ineditos  para  la  historia  de  Espana.  Vols. 
i-cxii.  Ed.  M.  F.  DE  NAVARRETE  and  others.  Madrid,  1842-95. 

Coleccion  de  libros  raros  6  curiosos  que  tratan  de  America.  Vols.  i  ff. 
Madrid,  1891  ff. 

Coleccion  de  los  mages  y  descubrimientos  que  hicieron  por  mar  los 
Espanoles  desde  fines  del  siglo  XV.  Ed.  MARTIN  FERNANDEZ 
DE  NAVARRETE.  5  vols.  Madrid,  1835-37. 

Coleccion  de  documentos  para  la  historia  de  Mexico.  Ed.  J.  GARCIA 
ICAZBALCETA.  2  vols.  Mexico,  1858,  i866.  Also,  Nueva  Coleccion, 
etc.,  4  vols.,  Mexico,  1886-1892;  and  ed.  A.  PENAFIEL,  Coleccion 
de  documentos  para  la  historia  mexicana,  Vols.  i-vi.  Mexico, 
1897-1903. 

Comptes  rendus  du  Congres  international  des  Americanistes.  Paris  and 
elsewhere  (biennially),  1878  ff. 

Encyclopaedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics.  Ed.  JAS.  HASTINGS.  Vols.  iff., 
1908  ff.  Edinburgh  and  New  York. 

Hakluyfs  Voyages.  Vols.  i-xii.   Glasgow,  1904. 

Hakluytus  Posthumus,  or  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes.  Vols.  i-xx.  Glasgow, 
1905-1907. 

Historiadores  de  las  Indias.  (Nueva  biblioteca  de  autores  Espanoles, 
Nos.  13,  14.)  Ed.  MANUEL  SERRANO  Y  SANZ.  2  vols.  Madrid, 
1909.  Tomo  i,  Apologetica  historia  de  las  Indias,  de  Fr.  Bar- 
tolome  de  las  Casas.  Tomo  ii,  Guerra  de  Quito,  de  Cieza  de  Leon; 
Jornada  del  Rio  Maranon,  de  Toribio  de  Ortiguera;  Jornada  de 
Omagua  y  Dorado;  Descripcion  del  Peru,  Tucumdn,  Rio  de  la 
Plata  y  Chile,  de  Fr.  Reginaldo  de  Lizdrraga. 

Historiadores  primitives  de  las  Indias  Occidentals.  Ed.  A.  G.  BARCIA. 
3  vols.  Madrid,  1749. 

Historiadores  primitives  de  Indias  (Biblioteca  de  autores  Espanoles). 
Ed.  ENRIQUE  DE  VEDIA.  2  vols.  Madrid,  1852,  1862.  Tomo  i, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  387 

C arias  de  relacion,  de  Cortes;  Hispania  Victrix,  de  Lopez  de 
Gomara;  Natural  historia  de  las  Indias,  de  Oviedo  y  V aides;  etc. 
Tomo  ii,  Verdadera  historia,  de  Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo;  Con- 
quista  del  Peru,  de  Francisco  de  Jerez;  Cronica  del  Peru,  de  Cieza 
de  Leon;  Historia  .  .  .  del  Peru,  de  Augustin  de  Zdrate. 

Journal  de  la  Societe  des  Americanistes  de  Paris.  Vols.  i-v,  1895-1904; 
new  series,  Vols.  i  if.,  1908  if.  Paris. 

Library  of  Aboriginal  American  Literature.  Ed.  DANIEL  G.  BRINTON. 
8  vols.  Philadelphia,  1882-90. 

Memoirs  of  the  Peabody  Museum.   Cambridge,  1896  ff. 

Papers  of  the  Peabody  Museum.   Cambridge,  1888  if. 

Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society.  New  series.  Worces- 
ter, 1882  if. 

Proceedings  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress.  Vol.  i. 
Section  I,  Anthropology.  Washington,  1917. 

Publications  of  the  Field  Columbian  Museum,  Anthropological  Series. 
Vols.  i  if.  Chicago,  1895  if. 

Relaciones  historicas  de  America.  Primera  mitad  del  sigh  XVI.  With 
introduction  by  MANUEL  SERRANO  Y  SANZ.  Madrid,  1916. 

Relaciones  historicas  y  geogrdficas  de  America  Central.  With  intro- 
duction by  MANUEL  SERRANO  Y  SANZ.  Madrid,  1908. 

Revista  del  Museo  de  la  Plata.  La  Plata,  1890  if. 

Voyages,  relations  et  memoires  originaux  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  la 
decouverte  de  FAmerique.  Ed.  H.  TERNAUX-COMPANS.  Vols.  i-xx. 
Paris,  1837-41.  Also,  with  other  editors,  Nouvelles  annales  des 
Voyages,  etc.,  in  six  series,  Paris,  1819—65. 

Works  Issued  by  the  Hakluyt  Society.  Vols.  i-c.  London,  1847-98. 
Second  series,  Vols.  i  if.,  1899  ff. 

V.    SELECT  AUTHORITIES 
CHAPTER  I 

ABBAD  Y  LASIERRA,  FRAY  INIGO,  Historia  geogrdfica,  civil  y  natural 
de  la  isla  de  San  Juan  Bautista  de  Puerto  Rico.  With  notes 
by  JOSE  JULIAN  DE  ACOSTA  Y  CALBO.  Porto  Rico,  1866. 

ADAM,  LUCIEN,  [a],  Le  parler  des  hommes  et  des  femmes  dans  la  langue 

Caraibe.  Paris,  1890. 
BALLET,  J.,  "Les  Carai'bes,"  in  CA  i.  i  (Nancy,  1875). 

BACHILLER  Y  MORALES,  ANTONIO,  Cuba  primitiva.  26.  ed.  Havana, 
1883. 


3  88  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

BENZONI,  GIROLAMO,  Historia  del  Mondo  Nuovo.  Venice,  1565.  Tr. 
W.  H.  SMYTH,  History  of  the  New  World  (HS).  London,  1857. 

BOOEY,  THEODOOR  DE,  [a], "  Lucayan  Remains  on  the  Caicos  Islands," 
in  AA,  new  series,  xiv  (1912). 

[b],  "Pottery  from  Certain  Caves  in  Eastern  Santo  Do- 
mingo," in  A  A,  new  series,  xvii  (1915). 

CHARLEVOIX,  PIERRE  FRANCOIS  XAVIER  DE,  Histoire  de  Vlsle  Es- 
pagnole  ou  de  Saint-Domingue.  2  vols.  Paris,  1730-31;  also, 
Amsterdam,  1733. 

COLL  Y  TOSTE,  CAYETANO,  Colon  en  Puerto  Rico.  Porto  Rico,  1893. 

COLUMBUS,  CHRISTOPHER,  Letters,  Journal,  etc.  —  Editions,  com- 
plete or  in  part:  M.  F.  DE  NAVARRETE,  Coleccion  de  los  viages  y 
descubrimientos  de  los  Espanoles,  Vol.  i,  Madrid,  1825;  H.  HA- 
RISSE,  Christophe  Colomb,  Vol.  ii,  Appendix,  Paris,  1885;  R.  H. 
MAJOR,  Select  Letters  of  Christopher  Columbus  (HS),  2d  ed.,  Lon- 
don, 1870  (contains  critical  bibliography) ;  CLEMENTS  MARKHAM, 
Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus  (HS),  London,  1893;  JOHN 
BOYD  THACHER,  Christopher  Columbus,  2  vols.,  New  York, 
1903-04;  EDWARD  GAYLORD  BOURNE,  "The  Voyages  of  Colum- 
bus and  John  Cabot,"  in  The  Northmen  and  Columbus  (Original 
Narratives  of  Early  American  History},  New  York,  1906  (with 
bibliographical  notes).  For  bibliography,  see  BEUCHAT,  Manuel, 
pp.  xiii-iv. 

COLUMBUS,  FERNANDO,  Historie  del  S.  D.  Fernando  Colomb:  Nelle 
quali  s'ha  particolare,  e  vera  relatione  delta  vita,  e  de"1  fatti  dell' 
Ammiraglio  D.  Christoforo  Colombo  suo  padre:  Et  dello  scopri- 
mento,  ch'  egli  fece  deW  Indie  Occidentali,  dette  Mondo-Nuovo, 
hora  possedute  dal  Sereniss.  Re  Catolico:  Nuovamente  di  lingua 
Spagnuola  tradotte  neW  Italiana  dal  S.  Alfonso  Ulloa.  Venice, 
1871.  English  tr.  in  CHURCHILL'S  Voyages,  London,  1704,  (3<i 
ed.,  6  vols.,  1744-46),  and  in  PINKERTON'S  Voyages  and  Travels, 
Vol.  xii,  London,  1812;  Spanish  tr.,  2  vols.,  Madrid,  1892. 

CORNILLIAC,  J.  J.  J.,  "  Anthropologie  des  Antilles,"  in  CA  i.  2  (Nancy, 
1875).- 

CURRIER,  CHAS.  W.,  "Origine,  progres  et  caracteres  de  la  r.ace 
caraibe,"  in  CA  xi  (Mexico,  1897). 

DAVIES,  J.,  The  History  of  the  Caribby  Islands.  London,  1666. 

DOUAY,  LEON,  [a]  "Affinites  lexicologiques  du  Hai'tien  et  du  Maya," 

in  CA  x  (Stockholm,  1897). 
Du  TERTRE,  JEAN  BAPTISTE,  [a],  Histoire  generale  des  lies  de  Saint- 

Christophe,  de  la  Guadeloupe,  de  la  Martinique  et  autres,  dans 

FAmerique.   Paris,  1654. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  389 

Du  TERTRE,  JEAN  BAPTISTE,  [b],  Hisloire  generate  des  Antilles  habi- 

tees  par  les  Franqais.     4  vols.     Paris,  1667-71. 
EDWARDS,  BRYAN,  Histoire  civile  et  commerciale  des  colonies  anglaises 

dans  les  Indes  Occidentales.   Paris,  1801. 
FEWKES,  J.  W.,  [a],  "Preliminary  Report  of  an  Archaeological  Trip 

to  the  West  Indies,"  in  Smithsonian  Institution:  Miscellaneous 

Publications,  xlv  (Washington,  1903). 
-  [b], "  Aborigines  of  Porto  Rico,"  in  25  ARBE  (Washington, 

1907). 

[c],  "Prehistoric  Porto  Rican  Pictographs,"  and  "Precolum- 

bian  West  Indian  Amulets,"  in  AA,  new  series,  v  (1903). 

[d],  "Further  Notes  on  the  Archaeology  of  Porto  Rico,"  in 

A  A,  new  series,  x  (1908). 

[e],  "An  Antillean  Statuette  with  Notes  on  West  Indian  Re- 
ligious Beliefs,"  in  A  A,  new  series,  xi  (1909). 

[f],  "A  Prehistoric  Collar  from  Porto  Rico,"  and  "Porto- 


Rican  Elbow-Stones,"  in  AA  xv,  new  series  (1913). 

FONTANEDA,  HERNANDO  o'EscALANTE,  Memoire  sur  la  Floride  (TC). 
Paris,  1840. 

GOMARA,  FRANCISCO  LOPEZ  DE,  [a],  Hispania  Fictrix.  Primera  y 
segunda  parte  de  la  historia  general  de  las  Indias.  Medina  del 
Campo,  1553;  also,  Historia  de  las  Indias,  Anvers,  1554;  and  in 
Hisloriadores  primitives  de  Indias,  Tomo  i  (ed.  VEDIA),  Madrid, 
1858. 

HARISSE,  H.,  The  Discovery  of  America.  London,  1892. 

HERRERA  Y  TORDESILLAS,  ANTONIO  DE,  Historia  general  de  los  hechos 
de  los  Castellanos  en  las  islas  y  tierra  firme  del  mar  Oceano.  .  .  , 
En  quatro  decadas  desde  el  ano  de  1492  hasta  el  de  1531.  4  vols. 
Madrid,  1601-15;  a^so>  Madrid,  1726-30. 

HUCHERBY,  THOMAS,  "Petroglyphs  of  St.  Vincent,  British  West 
Indies,"  in  AA  xvi,  new  series  (1914). 

IM  THURN,  EVERARD,  Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana.  London,  1883. 
JOYCE,  T.  A.,  [a],  Central  American  and  West  Indian  Archaeology. 
London,  1916. 

LABAT,  JEAN  BAPTISTE,  Nouveau  voyage  aux  Isles  de  I'Amerique. 
The  Hague,  1724;  also,  Paris,  1743. 

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LAS  CASAS,  BARTOLOME  DE,  [a],  Historia  de  las  Indias.  5  vols.  Ma- 
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390  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

account  of  editions  of  this  and  other  works  of  Las  Casas  will  be 
found  in  the  preface  to  Bartholomew  de  las  Casas,  by  FRANCIS 
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[b],  Apologetic  a  historia  de  las  Indias  (Historiadores  de  las 


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OVIEDO  Y  VALDES,  GONZALO  FERNANDEZ  DE,  Historia  general  y 
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PANE,  RAMON.  Pane's  Narrative  is  incorporated  in  FERNANDO  CO- 
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STAHL,  AUGUSTIN,  Los  Indios  Borinquenos.  Porto  Rico,  1889. 

STODDARD,  FLORENCE  JACKSON,  As  Old  as  the  Moon:  Cuban  Legends: 
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CHAPTERS  II-III 

ACOSTA,  JOSE  DE,  S.  J.,  Historia  natural  y  moral  de  las  Indias.  Seville, 
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jusqu'd  Varrivee  des  conquerants  espagnols.  Manuscrit  figuratif 
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CHIMALPAHIN  QUAUHTLEHUANITZIN,  DOMINGO  FRANCISCO  DE  SAN 
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CODEX.  Mexican  codices  include,  (a)  hieroglyphic  manuscripts,  pre- 
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dric  and  divinatory,  and  (b)  post-Columbian  writings,  Nahuatl 
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Antiguedades  Mexicanas  (containing  reproductions  of  Manu- 
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por  sus  pinturas;  Historia  de  los  Reynos  de  Colhuacan  y  de  Mexico; 
HUMBOLDT  [a];  KINGSBOROUGH;  LOUBAT;  NUTTALL  [b];  OROZCO 
Y  BERRA  [d];  PENAFIEL[D];  SELER,  passim;  SOTOMAYOR;  TOBAR. 
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Y  VILLA,  "Las  Pinturas  y  los  Manuscritos  Jeroglificos  Mexica- 
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SEUR  DE  BOURBOURG  [a],  Introduction,  for  analysis  of  sources  and 
account  of  his  own  discoveries. 

Codice  Ramirez.   See  TOBAR,  infra. 

CORTES,  (CORTEZ)  HERNANDO,  Cartas  de  relacion  (Historiadores  primi- 
tivos  de  Indias,  Tomo  i).  Madrid^  1858.  Tr.  F.  MACNUTT, 
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CORDOBA,  JUAN  DE,  Arte  del  idioma  Zapoteca.  Mexico,  1578;  also, 
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DIAZ  DEL  CASTILLO,  BERNAL,  Historia  verdadera  de  la  conquista  de  la 
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veridique  de  la  conquete  de  la  Nouvelle-Espagne,  26.  ed.,  Paris, 
1877;  tr.  A.  P.  MAUDSLEY,  The  True  History  of  the  Conquest  of 
New  Spain  (HS,  series  ii,  Vols.  xxiii-v,  xxx,  xl),  London,  1908-16. 

DURAN,  DIEGO,  Historia  de  las  Indias  de  Nueva  Espana  y  islas  de 
tierra  firme.  2  vols.  and  album.  Mexico,  1867-1880. 

FABREGA,  JOSE  LINO,  S.  J.,  Interpretacion  del  codice  Borgiano.  Italian 
text  with  Spanish  tr.  and  notes  by  A.  CHAVERO  and  F.  DEL  PASO 
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394  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

FEWKES,  J.  W.,  [g],  "Certain  Antiquities  of  Eastern  Mexico,"  in  25 
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[b],  "Estudio  comparative  de  dos  documentos  historicos,"  in 

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reproduced  in  KINGSBOROUGH,  Hi,  and  in  two  editions  by 
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Nacional,  Madrid,  comprises  the  Codex  Troano,  published  by 
BRASSEUR  DE  BOURBOURG  [f];  and  the  Codex  Cortesianus,  pub- 
lished by  LEON  DE  ROSNY  (1883)  and  again  by  RADA  Y  DELGADO 
(1892);  the  two  parts  are  from  a  single  original,  hence  the 
present  name  of  the  codex.  (3)  Codex  Peresianus,  Librairie 
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CORTES  (CORTEZ).   See  Bibliography  to  Chapters  II-III. 

DIAZ  DEL  CASTILLO.   See  Bibliography  to  Chapters  II-III. 

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404  LATIN-AMERICAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Chipolem,"  and  "Cuculcan,"  in  ZE  xxvii  (1895).  Also  artt.  in 
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PITTIER  DE  FABREGA,  HENRI  FRANCOIS,  [a],  "Ethnographic  and 
Linguistic  Notes  on  the  Paez  Indians  of  Tierra  Adantro,  Cauca, 
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RESTREPO  TIRADO,  ERNESTO,  [a],  Estudios  sobre  los  aborigenes  de  Co- 
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SIMON,  PEDRO,  Noticias  historiales  de  las  conquistas  de  Tierra  Firme 
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[b],  The  Quest  of  El  Dorado.  New  York,  1917.  **  Bibliography. 

ZERDA,  LIBORIO,  El  Dorado.:  estudio  historico,  etnogrdfico  y  arqueo- 
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CHAPTER  VII 

ACOSTA,  JOSE  DE.     See  Bibliography  to  Chapters  II— III. 

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(Paris,  1902).  This  article  is  a  brief  summary,  with  many  refs.  to 
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(1893),  and  xii  (1906). 

ANONYMOUS  JESUIT,  Relacion  de  las  costumbres  antiguas  de  los  natu- 
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C.  Markham,  following  Gonzalez  de  la  Rosa,  regards  this  as  a 
work  of  Bias  Valera,  circa  1540-96  (see  MARKHAM  [a],  pp. 
12-14). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  413 

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AVILA,  FRANCISCO  DE,  [a]  Tratado  de  los  evangelios.  2  vols.  Lima, 
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BAESSLER,  ARTHUR,  Contributions  to  the  Archaeology  of  the  Empire  of 
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BALBOA.    See  Bibliography  to  Chapter  VI. 

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DIAZ  ROMERO,  BELISARIO,  Tiahuanacu.  Estudio  de  prehistoria  Amer- 
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DORSET,  G.  A.,  [b],  "A  Ceremony  of  the  Quichua  of  Peru,"  in  JAFL 
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GARCILASSO  DE  LA  VEGA,  "El  Inca,"  Commentarios  Reales  que  tratan 
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(HS).  2  vols.  London,  1869,  1871. 

GONZALEZ  DE  LA  ROSA,  MANUEL,  "Les  deux  Tiahuanaco,  leurs 
problemes  et  leur  solution,"  in  CA  xvi  (Vienna  and  Leipzig, 
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HAGAR,  STANSBURX,  [d],  "The  Peruvian  Star-Chart  of  Salcamayhua," 
in  CA  xii  (Paris,  1902);  "Cuzco,  the  Celestial  City,"  in  CA  xiii 
(Easton,  1905);  "The  Peruvian  Asterisms  and  their  Relation  to 
Ritual,"  in  CA  xiv  (Stuttgart,  1906). 

HUAMAN  POMA  DE  AYALA.    See  PlETSCHMANN. 

JIMENEZ  DE  LA  ESPADA,  MARCOS,  ed.,  [a],  Tres  relaciones  de  anti- 
guedades  peruanas.  Madrid,  1879.  See  ANONYMOUS  JESUIT. 

[b],  "Del  hombre  bianco  y  signo  de  la  Cruz  precolumbianos 

en  el  Peru,"  in  CA  iii.  I  (Brussels,  1879). 
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RevMP  iii    (1892).    Also,   same   review:   "Los   ojos   de  Imay- 

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archaeology. 

[b],   "Las  'manoplas'  del  culto  de  Viracocha,"  in  CA  xii 

(Paris,  1902). 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY  415 

MARKHAM,  SIR  CLEMENTS  ROBERT,  [a],  The  Incas  of  Peru.  London, 
1910. 

-  [b],  "The  Megalithic  Age  in  Peru,"  in  CA  xiv  (Stuttgart, 
1906). 

[c],  "Andeans,"  in  ERE. 


MEANS,  PHILIP  A.,  "An  Outline  of  the  Culture-Sequence  in  the 
Andean  Area,"  in  CA  xix  (Washington,  1917).  ** Bibliography. 

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Yncas.  Tr.  from  manuscript,  C.  MARKHAM,  in  Rites  and  Laws  of 
the  Yncas  (US).  London,  1873.  (The  translator  says:  "The 
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MONTESINOS.   See  Bibliography  to  Chapter  VI. 

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script, H.  TERNAUX-COMPANS.  Paris,  1857. 

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CHAPTER  VIII 

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1743- 
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BODDAM-WHETHAM,  J.,  Roraima  and  British  Guiana.  London,  1879. 
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CHAPTER  IX 

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